Preserve Freedom in the USA

The First Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America (USA) guarantees freedom of political expression. However, there are those who seek to desecrate our Constitution with a new amendment to criminalize non-patriotic flag expression. Therefore, our freedom is at risk, causing distress to many patriots. Flying the flag inverted is the official maritime distress signal, and such flag expression has been adopted by some protesters and dissidents. Others have been tempted toward more extreme expressions of protest using the flag as a symbol: some have even publicly burned a USA flag as an act of protest.

Freedom of Expression

It should noted that the officially sanctioned method of disposing of a worn out (faded or ragged) flag is by respectfully burning it in a flag disposal ceremony. It is not burning, per se, to which some otherwise well meaning patriots object, it is the perceived disrespect to the nation that burning a flag in protest represents for them. Other patriots, however, might see flag protest as an exercise of our hard won freedom of expression, and therefore something to be tolerant of.

Warning: The applet below allows the user to display the flag inverted or to burn the flag. When outlawed, burning the flag may subject the user to criminal charges.

Flag Display Guidelines

The American flag is the symbol of the USA and should be treated with respect at all times. Never display a faded, dirty, or worn flag. Dispose of worn out flags properly. Never use an old flag as a rag or put it in the trash. When handled, the flag should not be allowed to touch the ground.

No flag of any nation should be flown at a level higher that the flag of the USA. State flags should be flown at a level lower than that of the national flag.

If displayed at night, the flag should be properly lighted. If flown in the rain, the flag should be made of a water-shedding material. A non-waterproof flag should be taken down when it starts to rain.

Just because an American citizen has a right to burn the flag in protest doesn't mean that he or she should do that. Probably the only political event that could justify protest burning of the flag is any attempt to to desecrate the constitution by weakening any of the Bill of Rights, such as with an amendment to ban some particular (or any) form of symbolic protest.

Flag Display Applet

A flag display computer program that allowed a user to symbollically destroy an American flag by burning was first created as a Visual Basic program during the Clinton administration when an effort in Congress was undertaken to create a Constitutional amendment banning "desecration" of the flag. That effort to desecrate the Constitution ultimately failed, so that Visual Basic program was never published.

Recently (2006) a similar effort failed by only one vote in the Senate. That failed effort inspired the creation of this applet version of the flag display program. An applet is a small application designed to run in an Internet browser.

The applet displays the flag of the United States of America (also known as the "American flag") by drawing the blue field, seven red stripes, six white stripes, and 50 white stars over the blue field. An "Invert the "Flag" button is shown at the top of the applet frame, and when pressed by the user, the flag is shown inverted (a distress signal).

If specifically enabled in the calling HTML code (the applet parameter "Burnable" must be set to "1"), "Burn the Flag" and "Reset the Flag" buttons will also be shown. Pushing the "Burn the Flag" button causes the flag to ignite at the lower left corner and burn up entirely. Pushing the "Reset the Flag" button after burning causes the flag to be restored to its full star spangled glory. Caution: pressing the "Burn the Flag" button may become illegal in the future.

Applet Source Code

The Java source code is included here for educational purposes only. Viewing or downloading the source implies your acceptance of these restrictions:

Use the source code for educational purposes only.
Give appropriate attribution in all executables and listings derived from this source.
Reproduce these restrictions and conditions in any derived programs.

The applet source code may be instructive to beginning programmers interested in simple drawing methods for two-dimensional graphics. The code also illustrates a method of running animation in a thread. I agree to the restrictions and conditions on the source code.

Richard dot J dot Wagner at gmail dot com

This page created July 19, 2006.
Last updated September 13, 2011.