Proposed Flag Amendment

The Stars and Stripes represents everything that is great about this country. It is the flag that fought heroically against the Third Reich, won the battle against the specter of communism and stands as a beacon of hope and prosperity for the world. However, it is also the flag that dropped two nuclear bombs on Japan, shipped thousands of teenagers to their deaths in Vietnam and whose government regularly ignores the needs of the poor and helpless in deference to special-interest finances.

Under the proposed amendment, a flag may still be burned ceremonially by the state, and we may wipe our faces on stars-and-stripes napkins while wearing stars-and-stripes underwear. It is therefore the expression of a political point of view that is being banned. This is nothing short of censorship. The U.S. is not holy, and its flag is not sacred. Let the patriots salute their flag, but also let the dissident protest offensive national policy, with the flag that represents it.

NEIL UHL

Santa Barbara

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Your story on July 14 regarding Hillary Clinton’s acknowledging Ralph Lauren’s $10-million donation to saving our monuments notes that Lauren “sweaters feature an American flag.” Does this mean that Tommy Lasorda (Commentary, July 9) would not allow us to burn our Ralph Lauren sweaters? My home is already stacked with cocktail toothpicks featuring the American flag and I am afraid to consign these to the fire.

MARVIN PETAL

Oxnard

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Lasorda has it backward. A ban on flag burning would truly be unpatriotic. Freedom of speech was one of the building blocks of this country. Banning flag burning would diminish that freedom and chip away at the foundation of the country. The majority may find flag burning distasteful and offensive, but it would be more offensive--and unpatriotic--to take away part of the freedom that makes this country what it is.

RICH RUDY

San Diego

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Now that constitutional scholar Lasorda has enlightened us on the 1st Amendment, perhaps Chief Justice William Rehnquist will judge the infield fly rule.

CHARLES T. FISCH

Redondo Beach