I think it should be a law that all US flags sold should include in the package a copy of the United States Flag Code (link via my name).

I'm tired of people displaying their ignorance when they're trying to display their patriotism.

A couple years ago I was staying at a pension in Turkey, and they had decorated their balcony with flags of the countries where a lot of their guests came from.

It was really bizarre, because almost all the flags had little errors in them. The Canadian maple leaf had some extra points and some funny angles, the US flag had the wrong number of stars...I think they also had 12 stripes as well, the Union Jack was too symmetrical, and they decorated that Australian flag with 5 pointed stars where there should be 7.

I was left wondering if these were made by some company that honestly didn't know better, or if there's some sort of licensing fee you have to pay to print up national flags, and by making them just a little bit different, they were able to produce cheap knockoffs.

Anyway, like I said, strange, and it left me wondering who was making them.

The Missouri state legislature passed a law this year (and the governor signed it) requiring that all US flags flown by government offices be made in America.

This sounds like a big waste of legislative time and a small waste of taxpayer's money to me.

What, are we concerned that if we don't support the US flag-making industry, that we'll forget how to make them?

The flag is a symbol and therefore is a form of speech. It may be as much a violation of First Amendment rights to prohibit selling any flag -- regardless of country of manufacture -- as it would be to prohibit displaying it. Get me F. Lee Baily!

The law is an unconstitutional violation of the dormant commerce clause, so it won't be valid for purely domestic reasons. States pass these kinds of symbolic, unconstitutional laws all the time. All it does is waste money.

Only the federal government can regulate international trade.

How is it that flag manufacturers don't have to hold to the dimensions of our flag when it comes to it's making? The width of the flag is supposed to be 1.9 times it's height yet manufacturers most often leave off 3 or 4 inches of it's width and nothing is said. Oh!, I get it, this is the United States where profit comes first, even when tha flag is concerned! Saving a few inches of material is ok when profit is the motivator!