I think any institution that places symbolism and icons above it's fundamental values and principles is an institution in decline...
I don't expect to have a lot of commentary or responses to this but I just got out of an argument with a co-worker on the issue of flag-burning. In last years' congressional actions to ban flag burning I exchanged emails with Dianne Feinstein's office on the topic. She told me we had to "agree to disagree" on the topic. I just needed to vent my frustration. (Oh - and I know that the grammar below is horrible....)
While I would probably never personally burn the American Flag, I think we have a constitutional right to do so.
To me you could argue that it's JUST as disrespectful of the flag to use it to appeal to some false notion of patriotism for political or commercial gain. This flag is a symbol. If we care more about an object than we do about our republic, then we are in a sorry state.
If you hoist a 20 by 30 foot American Flag over your Nissan Dealership........... you might be a flag-burner...
If you emblazon your 24-hour news channel with so many Star-Spangled ornaments (while being owned by an Australian), while at the same time defending the undermining of the US Constitution in the name of some vague notion of security....... you might be a flag-burner
If you have a "support the troops ribbon" on your car in red, white, and blue, but don't support ongoing care for the troops once they get back home.... you might be a flag-burner
If you vote Republican and get elected appealing to working class lower income Americans, while simultaneously shoveling their jobs to some 3rd world country...... you might be a flag-burner
If your former CEO wears American Flag pins and talks about the greatness of the American way of life but at the same time you are moving your corporate headquarters offshore while simultaneously making billions of dollars in profit off the American Taxpayer, and consistently failing to deliver on commitments to the American people..... you might be a flag-burner
If you support suspension of habeas corpus. If you think we need to "double" the size of Guantanamo.... If you think extraorinary rendition is extraordinary.... If you welcome large telecom corporations listening in on your phone calls. If you are hunky-dory with the NSA reading your email or searching your residence with no warrant.....
.....you might be a flag-burner.
If you believe that America was intended to be a Christian Nation.... you might be a flag-burner.
If you don't believe that pressuring 2nd graders to recite a pledge of allegiance to the flag is somehow antithetical to the fundamental precepts of our constitution...... you might be a flag-burner
....chip in - I could go on all day........