Nowhere in the constitution is the flag even mentioned. And I wouldn't be surprised if it wasn't mentioned in any other country's constitution or other founding documents. Although the nation's colors are (like the national anthem) certainly a legitimate expression of patriotism and national honor in every country, burning or not burning flags, or elaborate regulations governing its display and use, are questions of good manners, not of law. Ships, particularly warships, at sea have elaborate rules about flag etiquette, who salutes first, who dips to who, which flags you fly as courtesy when anchored in a foreign harbor, etc; all are a question of custom and respect, even diplomatic protocol. But as far as the use of the flag within a country by its own citizens, it is a question of respect, not of law. The flag deserves some respect and ceremony, and the colors of other nations should also be accorded courtesy, lest it be considered an insult. Deliberately disrespecting another's national emblem is the same as insulting him to his face, it is calculated to do so, and he is obligated to take it that way and do something about it, for honor's sake. But even enemies on the battlefield respect each other's colors, its like saluting your opponent prior to fighting him. But its not a question of law. If you have to pass a law to make people respect the flag, it no longer commands respect.

I suspect I know where you're coming from. In the 1960s, it became a form of protest (free speech) in the USA to deliberately disrespect the American flag, by burning, among other insults. It was a means of getting attention, making your point, telling the people you were speaking to that you didn't care for them or for their laws and customs (which, by the way, is not only legal, it is our right and should be encouraged). But doing this by defiling the flag never struck me as a good idea. I felt uncomfortable with it, it seemed needlessly harsh and deliberately disrespectful, and I don't think it is necessary to insult the very symbol of your community and everyone in it because you disagree with what some of your fellow citizens think or do. I still feel a bit awkward and hurt when the flag is disrespected, even if I support the cause the protestors advocate.

ON THE OTHER HAND...I do not appreciate how the establishment, the ruling class, the bosses, the majority, the other guys, whatever you want to call them, hide behind the flag. When they use the flag not as a symbol of national solidarity, but as a way of implicating that honest dissent and sincere moral outrage is illegitimate and is somehow unAmerican or unpatriotic. People like that also are disrespecting the flag by appropriating it for their own purposes, as a means of insulting anyone who has the audacity to express themselves or who seeks to advocate a different point of view. Those people (the flag fetishists) need to be taught a lesson, to have that same flag rubbed in their faces, so they can learn that we are not intimidated by their phony self-righteousness. What gives them the right to declare their superstitions as patriotism, and everyone elses belief as treason?

As for the Pledge of Allegiance, that should be gotten rid of. We are the only country in the world that has one, and it seems pretty pathetic that the land of the free, and the home of the brave needs to have a coerced oath, enforced by a lynch mob. Its like forcing people to pray. Ot making them take an oath to the Fuhrer. I took an oath when I joined the military, because I joined voluntarily and that was a symbolic ceremony punctuating that solemn moment. We take an oath when we are appointed to public office, and when we choose a mate. These are oaths to be taken seriously.

But forcing kids in a class to mindlessly repeat those syllables every school day of their lives is an obscenity. Its a form of mind control through group coercion which should not be tolerated by a free people.