A new law in Minnesota offends the very spirit that the law was meant to support.
The spirit is freedom. The new law bans foreign-made American flags from being sold in the state. As such, it restricts consumer choice, forces Minnesotans to abide by state-mandated protectionism and threatens shop owners with fines and jail time if they dare to sell flags made overseas.
In other words, the law restricts Minnesotans' freedom, no matter how dressed up the restrictions are in red, white and blue bunting.
The state government erred by passing the law in the first place. Lawmakers should correct their mistake by rescinding the law as soon as they can.
"A move is on in state legislatures to ensure that the flags folks will be flying and buying this Independence Day were made on this fruited plain," The Associated Press reported July 3.
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"Minnesota has passed the strongest measure, a new law that goes into effect at year's end requiring every Old Glory sold in state stores to be domestically produced." Violations could be punishable by up to a $1,000 fine and 90 days in jail, the story reported.
"I was raised in a strong union household where I was taught to buy American," said the bill's author, Rep. Tom Rukavina, DFL-Virginia, to Minnesota Public Radio.
And "if anything should be made in the United States of America, if anything should be sacred to this country and the American worker, it's the American flag."
Well, "buy American" is a fine thing to learn at your parents' knee. But Rukavina wasn't content with merely honoring the rule himself and persuading others to do the same. Instead, he and the Legislature treated the opinion as a commandment and forced all Minnesotans to comply, including Minnesotans who support free trade.
Restricting others' freedom through petty tyranny is no way to honor the American flag.
The fireworks that lit the skies July 4 over Virginia and other Minnesota cities very likely came from China. Did that make them dazzle any less or mute spectators' oohs and aahs?
No. Likewise, Minnesotans shouldn't confuse the making of a flag with the meaning of one. The cloth banner can be sewn anywhere; what it stands for, however, is 100 percent American. And the essence of what it stands for is freedom.
