HAPPY FLAG DAY!

Whatever happened to American flag etiquette?  When I was growing up you would catch flak — usually from a veteran — if you didn’t follow the strict rules when flying the flag.  

They included:

• The flag should never be used for advertising purposes in any manner whatsoever.  Do not place or cause to be placed any word, figure, mark, picture, design, drawing, or any advertisement.  It should not be embroidered on such articles as cushions or handkerchiefs and the like, printed or otherwise impressed on paper napkins or boxes or anything that is designed for temporary use and discard. 
• No part of the flag should ever be used as a costume or athletic uniform.
• The flag should never be used as wearing apparel, bedding, or drapery. 
• It is the universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset on buildings and on stationary flagstaffs in the open. 
• The flag should not be displayed on days when the weather is inclement, except when an all-weather flag is displayed.
• The flag should not be draped over the hood, top, sides, or back of a vehicle or of a railroad train or a boat. 
• The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.
• The flag should never touch anything beneath it, such as the ground, the floor, water, or merchandise.
• The flag should never be fastened, displayed, used, or stored in such a manner as to permit it to be easily torn, soiled, or damaged in any way.
• The flag should never have placed upon it, nor on any part of it, nor attached to it any mark, insignia, letter, word, figure, design, picture, or drawing of any nature.
• The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning
• The flag represents a living country and is itself considered a living thing. 

I find it incredibly ironic that you can see one or more of these flag rules broken virtually every day of the year, by veterans, gun nuts screaming about their right to bear arms, patriotic vigilantes extolling the virtue and primacy of the U.S. Constitution, law & order types, boating bozos, and conservative wing nuts.  Those who wave the American flag self righteously from all of their moving parts, invariably treat that flag with ignorant disregard and disrespect. Oh say can you see?

• Flag rules copied from 4 U.S. Code § 8 – Respect for flag