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What Old Glory means to illegals
Posted: June 19, 2007
1:00 a.m. Eastern



June 14 was the day historically recognized as "Flag Day." The day was first celebrated in 1885, officially established by proclamation of President Woodrow Wilson May 30, 1916, and signed by President Truman as an act of Congress so designating same Aug. 3, 1949.

Growing up and in my mind, so still even today, the flag of the United States was/is an indelible representation of opportunity and freedom available to all in this great nation.

As Beverly Hernandez writes, "National flags are not merely symbols of a country. Their colors and designs convey past history and future goals. Flags have powerful connotations. … In every country of the world, the treatment of [its] flag displays an opinion or statement." ("Celebrate Flag Day – The History of Flag Day"; About.com; Homeschooling)

Which brings me to my point – no other flag embodies a more complex history or vestige of principles than does America's. It is a symbol of not only freedom and opportunity, but one of welcome.



It is this responsibility that President Bush and no few members of Congress deface in their attempt to bestow upon illegal criminals the rights and privileges for which courageous and heroic Americans risked all and shed blood, so this nation could be a symbol unlike any other in the civilized world.

Borrowing from Michelle Malkin's June 13 column, the flag is not honored, nor are those who defended same, when "immigration lawyers and ethnic activists run a massive, lucrative industry whose sole objective is to help illegal aliens and convicted criminal visa holders evade deportation for as long as possible. Entry into [our] country [is] a privilege, not a right."

The flag flies as a symbol of welcome to all who would seek entry legally, desiring to embrace the culture it represents. The flag honors the Declaration of Independence in that "All men are created equal." Nowhere is it written or intimated that "all illegals are created with more rights than the citizens of our country."

The flag flew proudly, its "Stars and Stripes" gleaming at the end of slavery, when women were given full rights commensurate with men, at the revocation of Jim Crow, and as brave men and women returned home from defending her. It is not a representative welcome to those who come here not to assimilate, but rather, to undermine and subvert.

The president and Congress do not honor the flag they salute, nor those who died in its defense, when they circumvent immigration laws through special legislation, introducing bills that would grant special private relief to individual immigrants fighting deportation – in many instances for illegals that have compounded their criminal actions with murder, rape and other criminal atrocities.

President Bush does not honor our flag, or those who defended/defend it in his convoluted and misguided push to have Congress ratify the United Nations' Law of the Sea Treaty. Said treaty is designed to transfer wealth and technology from the industrialized states to the Third World. Ronald Reagan refused to participate in a treaty that would create a new ocean bureaucracy that would ultimately cost taxpayers (vis-Γ*-vis government expenditures) dearly.

Public schools no more honor the flag than they do the Constitution when they teach that it is a form of freedom of speech to desecrate the flag – nor does a Congress that refuses to protect Old Glory. It is one thing for Congress to hide behind high and lofty magnanimous verbiage pursuant to how the Constitution allows for such behavior, but it is another to we who view such behavior as spitting on the graves of those buried in Arlington National Cemetery and in the faces of our ancestors. How does the freedom to burn our flag translate into respect for what it stands for? How should we feel when the president and members of Congress malign those of us who take exception with illegals who fly our flag upside down, cast it under foot and burn it?

The flag flies over a nation that speaks English. English is not the principle language – it must be the official language.

Many of us grew up in a day and time in which the flag was honored and revered. Many children today grow up with no clear understanding of that which the flag truly represents. They know more about "American Idol" and MTV than they do the meaning of the Stars and Stripes of our flag.

With so little understanding – and a Congress and president doing all they can to diminish same – is it any wonder young people today have little or no respect for what America represents? Is it any wonder illegals have no qualms about desecrating one of our most treasured symbols? Is it a flag representing the sovereignty of the United States, or a signal to "cross the border now – while no one is looking"?



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