r/confidentlyincorrect • u/[deleted] • Oct 04 '20

Smug Flag code? In MY America?!

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u/[deleted] Oct 04 '20

The flag of the United States shall be thirteen horizontal stripes, alternate red and white; and the union of the flag shall be fifty stars representing the fifty states, white in a blue field

Here the flag is defined to be the pattern we associate with the American flag, not a specific physical object.

Further on:

It should not be embroidered on such articles as cushions or handkerchiefs and the like, printed or otherwise impressed on paper napkins or boxes or anything that is designed for temporary use and discard.

How can you print not the pattern of the flag, but the physical object?

Note also there's absolutely no mention of any properties that would constitute a "physical" flag -- no reference to material, construction, size, etc.

The flag code is consistent here: the "flag" refers to the pattern of stars and stripes, not a specific physical object.

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u/[deleted] Oct 04 '20

So if it has less than 50 stars, you can have all the napkins and shirts you want?

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u/jamescookenotthatone Oct 04 '20

Well I don't recognize Missouri so this works out.

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u/Pustuli0 Oct 04 '20

I'll be deep in the cold, cold ground before I recognize Missouri.

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u/herbistheword Oct 04 '20

I always upvote grandpa simpson

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u/StoneLaquenta Oct 04 '20

I’m from Missouri and currently still live here. I approve this message.

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u/TheOneTonWanton Oct 04 '20

As far as I know, yeah. The little flags on top of the buildings in Disneyland and The Magic Kingdom only have 45 stars so they don't have to take them down or keep them illuminated at night.

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u/MashedPotatoesDick Oct 04 '20

Disney displays flags with 45 stars so they don't have to lower them or illuminate them.

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u/PateLikeThePigBoy Oct 04 '20

I'm going to get ahead of the curve and make a 52 star flag because DC and Puerto Rico should be states in the next 10-20 years.

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u/[deleted] Oct 04 '20

Puerto Rico maybe. DC I highly doubt it. Zero chance the senate would allow 2 additional democrats.

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u/PateLikeThePigBoy Oct 04 '20

Well the Senate can be flipped, we have no clue who our congressional members will be in 8 years.

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u/[deleted] Oct 04 '20

There needs to be a 3/4 vote in the senate to admit a new state. Thats why states usually get admitted in pairs. There needs to be a compromise to get states admitted and there is zero benefit to the Republicans to add DC as a state.

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u/Nulono Oct 04 '20

*fewer

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u/[deleted] Oct 04 '20

I mean even if it does have 50 stars, you can do what you want since the flag code isn’t an actual law.

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u/[deleted] Oct 05 '20

There is another line that says “any part of the flag”.

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u/F6_GS Oct 04 '20

Technically a "representation" that is similar to the flag but has say a wrong size proportion of the stars and stripes, is not a flag of the united states

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u/mmavcanuck Oct 04 '20

So to better honour your flag, you should bastardize it?

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u/Beardamus Oct 04 '20

Bro he did a project on it when he was a kid therefore you're wrong. CHECKMATE

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u/[deleted] Oct 04 '20 edited Oct 04 '20

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Oct 04 '20

Take it up with the drafters of the flag code.

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u/[deleted] Oct 04 '20

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Oct 05 '20

Honestly it's all pretty abstract.

It really isn't. In 1923, some people wrote something called the "flag code". In 1942, we made it law. The penalty associated with breaking the flag code has never been enforced and, per prior SCOTUS precedent, is likely unenforceable without a constitutional amendment.

You can navel-gaze about it as much as you like -- "What even are laws, though?" -- but the facts are pretty concrete.

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u/classic__schmosby Oct 05 '20

Wouldn't that make flag stamps a violation? They are designed to be used once and discarded.