Nov 5, 2014 4 min read

I have been thinking about this question as of late, and I was wondering where the destruction starts? Does it need to start at the federal level? By that, I mean does it have to start from an administration that seems to be out of touch and continues to fund our enemies while trying to pretend to tacitly support some of our allies?

Or, is it at that level when they push an educational program onto the states to teach to the lowest common denominator in our classrooms by pushing an agenda that looks backwards at our country as the enemy, and how we have oppressed those that are now coming after us?

Can it be at the state level, failing to handle a pension issue (that they helped make) because they are afraid of unions and what their votes mean to keep them in office to make bad choices that we pay for?

But, I do not think we have to look that far. The destruction of American values and laws starts right here in our own community. It happens when people ignore traffic laws. It happens when the National Anthem is being played and ignorant people keep their hats on or continue to walk or talk. It happens when school districts (and local companies and individuals) fail to follow the law and do not properly light the American flag when they are left out over night in violation of United States Code Title 4 Chapter 1 — The Flag §6: Time and occasions for display. It is the universal custom to display the flag only from sunrise to sunset on buildings and on stationary flagstaffs in the open. However, when a patriotic effect is desired, the flag may be displayed 24 hours a day if properly illuminated during the hours of darkness.

And, as many know, this is an issue that has bothered me since before I was elected to the local Peters Township School Board. For more than five decades, the leadership of the school district and community failed to force our schools to meet the legal requirements. Since elected, I have been asking that all of the flags within the district be properly lit and stay in good repair (as required by common sense and the Federal Law). And, I might say that after three plus years of being on the Board and pushing this issue, that almost all of our flags are finally in compliance.

I am not sure if it is because I have a bachelor’s degree in legal studies or that I taught civics (including the laws of the country and how they should be respected and held sacred) or, maybe it is the fact that I promised in my military oath to protect and defend the laws (spending 20 years in the Air Force), but I take all of these to be part of the basis of wanting the laws to be protected.

But, for sure, the destruction of the system happens when local elected officials vote to approve to fly the American flag knowing that the action would be in violation of the Federal Law – the one they took the oath to protect. This is what happened during a recent Peters Township Council meeting. And, while I certainly applaud the thought behind trying to celebrate Veterans Day with an appropriate display on the bridge on McMurray Road (or elsewhere), the travesty of a vote, by elected officials, to pretend that the “law” does not matter is beyond comprehension.

And, worst of all is hearing the justification and the comments made by some of the council members prior to taking the vote demonstrates why the destruction of the “American idea” continues, and is escalating.

William Merrell

Venetia