[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 91 (Thursday, June 24, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S7585]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE RESOLUTION

  Mr. FEINGOLD. Mr President, I want to express my support for the 
resolution, which was adopted by the Senate yesterday, to begin a new 
tradition in this distinguished body: to begin our days by saying the 
Pledge of Allegiance each morning in this Chamber. There were about ten 
of my colleagues on the floor this morning to inaugurate this new 
tradition, and I only wish there could have been more to join us.
  We will pay tribute to our flag, the greatest symbol of our freedom, 
in the Chamber where we are sworn to uphold the very freedoms the flag 
symbolizes. There can be no more fitting tribute to our Constitution 
than the free and unfettered expression of patriotism that the Pledge 
of Allegiance represents.
  Today in the Senate, we honor the flag. In contrast to this voluntary 
celebration of our flag, the other chamber today may vote on an 
amendment to our Constitution that asks us to turn away from the 
freedoms we cherish in order to protect our flag, in effect to compel 
reverence for the flag. This amendment, in a misdirected attempt to 
protect a cherished symbol, instead tears at the very fabric of our 
freedom.
  In the past, I have walked in the Appleton, WI, parade on Flag Day. I 
am told that it is the largest Flag Day parade in our country--it is 
certainly one of the best. As I saw the faces of those people, those 
Americans, as they waved the flag, filled with pride in our great 
nation, I knew then not only that patriotism shouldn't be legislated, 
but that it doesn't need to be. It is in this Chamber and in the hearts 
and minds of millions of Americans across this country. Again, I 
celebrate the effort to pay tribute to the flag, and the freedom it 
represents, in this Chamber each day. I only hope when and if the 
amendment that threatens that freedom is considered on this floor, we 
will remember the Pledge of Allegiance, and remain true to the liberty 
it speaks of, and that all of us hold so dear.

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