00SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION NO. 9                                                                                           
01 Relating to an amendment to the Constitution of the United States prohibiting                                           
02 desecration of the Flag of the United States.                                                                           
03 BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF ALASKA:                                                               
04  WHEREAS certain actions, although arguably related to one person's free expression,                                    
05 nevertheless raise issues concerning public decency, public peace, and the rights of expression                         
06 and sacred values of others; and                                                                                        
07  WHEREAS there are symbols of our national soul such as the Washington Monument,                                        
08 the United States Capitol Building, and memorials to our greatest leaders, that are the property                        
09 of every American and are therefore worthy of protection from desecration and dishonor; and                             
10  WHEREAS the American Flag was most nobly born in the struggle for independence                                         
11 that began with "The Shot Heard Round the World" on a bridge in Concord, Massachusetts;                                 
12 and                                                                                                                     
13  WHEREAS in the War of 1812 the American Flag stood boldly against foreign                                              
14 invasion, symbolized the stand of a young and brave nation against the mighty world power                               

01 of that day, and in its courageous resilience inspired our national anthem; and                                         
02  WHEREAS in the Second World War the American Flag was the banner that led the                                          
03 American battle against fascist imperialism from the depths of Pearl Harbor to the                                      
04 mountaintop on Iwo Jima, and from defeat in North Africa's Kasserine Pass to victory in the                             
05 streets of Hitler's Germany; and                                                                                        
06  WHEREAS Alaska's star was woven into the fabric of the Flag in 1959, and that 49th                                     
07 star has become an integral part of the Union; and                                                                      
08  WHEREAS the American Flag symbolizes the ideals that good and decent people                                            
09 fought for in Vietnam, often at the expense of their lives or at the cost of cruel condemnation                         
10 upon their return home; and                                                                                             
11  WHEREAS the American Flag symbolizes the sacred values for which loyal                                                 
12 Americans risked and often lost their lives in securing civil rights for all Americans, regardless                      
13 of race, sex, or creed; and                                                                                             
14  WHEREAS the American Flag was carried to the moon as a banner of goodwill,                                             
15 vision, and triumph on behalf of all mankind; and                                                                       
16  WHEREAS the American Flag to this day is a most honorable and worthy banner of                                         
17 a nation that is thankful for its strengths and committed to curing its faults, and remains the                         
18 destination of millions of immigrants attracted by the universal power of the American ideal;                           
19 and                                                                                                                     
20  WHEREAS the law as interpreted by the United States Supreme Court no longer                                            
21 accords to the Stars and Stripes that reverence, respect, and dignity befitting the banner of that                      
22 most noble experiment of a nation-state; and                                                                            
23  WHEREAS it is only fitting that people everywhere should lend their voices to a                                        
24 forceful call for restoration to the Stars and Stripes of a proper station under law and decency;                       
25  BE IT RESOLVED by the Alaska State Legislature that the Congress of the United                                         
26 States is requested to prepare and present to the legislatures of the several states an                                 
27 amendment to the Constitution of the United States that would specifically provide the                                  
28 Congress and the legislatures of the several states the power to prohibit the physical                                  
29 desecration of the Flag of the United States; this request does not constitute a call for a                             
30 constitutional convention; and be it                                                                                    
31  FURTHER RESOLVED that the legislatures of the several states are invited to join                                       

01 with Alaska to secure ratification of the proposed amendment.                                                           
02  COPIES of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable Dan Quayle, Vice-President                                    
03 of the United States and President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable George J. Mitchell,                                
04 Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; to the Honorable Thomas S. Foley, Speaker of the U.S.                               
05 House of Representatives; the governors of each of the several states; the presiding officers                           
06 of each house of the legislatures of the several states; and to the Honorable Ted Stevens and                           
07 the Honorable Frank Murkowski, United States Senators, and the Honorable Don Young,                                     
08 United States Representative, members of the Alaska delegation in Congress.