Ignorance Is No Excuse

We've all heard it before; "Ignorance is no excuse." Perhaps we have even heard that argument made against us. I was ticketed in 1985 for an illegal U-Turn in Glendale, WI. (Still the only ticket of my driving career. Had a couple of warnings, but no other tickets.) There was apparently a sign indicating that no U-Turns were permitted in an area. I came out of a gas station and had to make a swing to the right in order to hit a cut through to turn around to go back to the left. The sign was behind where I came out of the gas station but it still applied to that cut through. I still have no idea why there was even a cut through in the boulevard there because there was no street to make a left turn onto and the only option available at that spot was to use the cut through to make a U-Turn.

In any case, I swung to the right to make the U-Turn back to the left and soon noticed the distinct flashing of red and blue lights in my rear view mirror. The fact that I could not have possibly seen the sign based on its position relative to the gas station driveway was not an adequate explanation to keep me from getting a ticket. The officer told me I was free to make my argument before the Judge if I had an issue with it. His point - my ignorance of the prohibition against U-Turns at that cut through was not an excuse for violating the law. It was a whopping $40 ticket at the time and it certainly wasn't worth taking a day off work to go to court, so I paid the fine and moved on, but I have never forgotten his insistence that ignorance was no excuse.

Somehow, the government does not hold itself to the same standard.

I speak, of course, of the government's regular and consistent violation of the US Flag Code as it relates to displaying the United States Flag at half staff. I realize that I may be part of an infinitesimal percentage of the US population who actually knows we even have a US Flag Code.

We do.

It is codified into law in the US Code. The laws dictating when and how our Flag is to be lowered to half staff used to be covered in Title 36 Chapter 10 dealing with Patriotic Customs. The Code has been "simplified" and it is now covered in Title 4 Section 7.

Aren't you glad you know that?

I have a flagpole in front of my house and proudly fly my United States Flag virtually every day. The Flag comes down when we are expecting high winds; both to extend the life of the Flag and to protect my aluminum flagpole. I am proud to fly the United States Flag in front of the house. I've been accused about being rather retentive about the Flag and the US Flag Code, among other things.

I can recite many of the most minute details of the Flag Code. I can even tell you how the Union (the blue field with the white stars in it, for the vast majority of the US population that doesn't know that's what it's called) is supposed to be positioned no matter how the Flag is displayed; whether flown, suspended or appearing on a uniform.

The US Flag Code spells out - in great detail - how and when the Flag is to be displayed. Although the US Flag Code is considered law;  it is rather unique in that there are no penalties proscribed for violating the law.

Of course, to a retentive geek, violations are violations; whether the law dictates a penalty for the violation or not.

The government continually violates the law when ordering that US Flags be flown at half staff for various tragedies; most recently following the bombings at the Boston Marathon. I have held off on posting this blog because I do not want my comments to be construed as disrespectful to those who were injured or killed in the attacks.

I also am not making a political statement. President Obama's decree that the US Flag be flown at half staff for a period of mourning is merely a continuation of what presidents of both parties have done before him..

At some point in the past, people got the idea that it is appropriate to lower our Flag to half staff for a myriad of reasons. I simply continue to fly my Flag at full staff; not as a show of disrespect for whatever disaster spawned the decree, but as a show of respect for my country and my Flag.

At the risk of boring you to death, I have inserted the pertinent section of the US Code below. You can feel free to skip right over it, but I don't want to be accused of not offering the facts behind my position. I could, after all, do like much of the political world and merely make up "facts" to support whatever I chose to pontificate on on any given day.

4 USC Sec. 7

"... (m) ...
    By order of the President, the flag shall be flown at half-staff
    upon the death of principal figures of the United States Government
    and the Governor of a State, territory, or possession, as a mark of
    respect to their memory. In the event of the death of other
    officials or foreign dignitaries, the flag is to be displayed at
    half-staff according to Presidential instructions or orders, or in
    accordance with recognized customs or practices not inconsistent
    with law..."

Back to my daily rant...

The law makes no allowance for national mourning for tragedies or the death of anyone other than government officials or dignitaries. The law gives governors greater powers to make proclamations lowering the Flag and orders Federal installations and facilities in that state to fly the Flag at half staff in those situations. The US Flag Federation, an unofficial keeper of the Flag Code, affirms that nothing in the law prohibits private individuals from choosing to fly their Flag at half staff on their own. That section of the US Flag Code merely dictates the standards by which the President or Governor may order Flags to half staff.

Somewhere along the way, though, someone determined that the President should make proclamations ordering the Flag to half staff for virtually any tragedy they determine to be worthy. While that may be admirable; it is not a correct application of the law.

We have a mechanism in place to change laws. The US Flag Code itself has been changed and amended many times through the years; yet Congress has never chosen to change the Code to allow presidential proclamation to order the Flag to half staff for times of national mourning.

So last week, as in many other instances, I continued to fly my US Flag at full staff. Not out of any disrespect for the victims of the terrorist attack in Boston, but out of respect for the Flag

Ignorance is no excuse