The causes of flag desecration are numerous.
Often times, they share hatred, passion or discord, which ignites the fire behind each individual's actions. They may not realize however, what all they are relinquishing these emotions onto. A state's flag serves as the symbol of the well, state. Though, many people do not realize what makes up the term "statehood." Do realize the term "state" is synonymous to the term "country" and the states as we know here in the U.S. aren't actually states at all.
The four key components that make up a state are government, territory, sovereignty and population. This makes the states we know in the U.S. only three-quarters of a state as they fail to own sovereignty. Almost every time, it is the government that people are upset with. Though again, we must realize that the nation's flag represents more than just the government. Population holds equal importance to the government meaning when the flag is desecrated to fuel your anguish with the government, you are also stepping on, burning and destroying the population. In essence, you are obstructing yourself along with the government. The government would be nothing without her population and even though we feel our government can often times overlook that point, it isn't the flag of the state that should come under fire to prove a point.
The flag also not only represents the current government but all the preceding ones as well. Hence, when our Continental Congress adopted the Constitution those many years ago, our flag indirectly represents all that it established. The Constitution had set a precedent of protected personal rights and liberties. Underneath the Bill of Rights, it allows you to assemble and promote whatever idea you see fit. In addition, it gives us the right to tear down a tyrannical government and rebuild a new one. In fact, Thomas Jefferson said that it was our duty as an American citizen to do this if the government failed to see through her responsibilities. Yet, many see fit to dismember a flag that represents their actions of doing so in the first place.
In conclusion, the flag is more than the corrupt members in our government. The flag is for you and me and our rights that protect us from these corrupt men and women. It is the government that we need to make clear is our target under these distressing times. After all, how much does a government represent a nation? It is only to be one-quarter of the state, though if we define the state as the government alone, then we are only giving it more power.
