Run Them All Down the Flagpole and See Who Salutes

We almost made it an entire month without a flag controversy in Westminster.

Most cities have a flag dispute every, oh, 50 to 60 years. Westminster has one every few weeks. Maybe the city likes being on CNN.

Just a suggestion: How about a permanent ordinance banning the flying, displaying or possession of all flags within city limits. No Republic of Vietnam flags. No former South Vietnam flags. No American flags (lapel version or full-size). No California state flags. No Dodger or Angel pennants.

I’d make it this direct: If it flaps in the breeze, it’s illegal in Westminster.

Yes, that might pose a 1st Amendment problem, but I’m sure the Founding Fathers would gladly have granted Westminster a waiver, given that its citizenry seem incapable of dealing sensibly with any issue involving a flag.

Besides, many Westminster residents indicated they didn’t care about the 1st Amendment earlier this year when they insisted a shop owner remove his flag of the Communist-backed Vietnamese government.

With that controversy out of the way, residents needed a new one. Increasingly inventive with their flag hang-ups, they came up with the current dispute, which unfurled as follows:

To commemorate the fall of Saigon in April of 1975, a group called the U.S. Army Ranger Assn. has in recent years sponsored the side-by-side display of both the U.S. flag and that of the former Republic of South Vietnam. For several days in April, the group displays the flags on light poles along Bolsa Avenue in Little Saigon, the city’s shining monument to immigrant assimilation into American society.

In the past, the City Council has agreed to the displays, even knowing that some other residents didn’t like the idea of the U.S. flag sharing time with a Vietnamese flag.

But not this year.

The City Council this week voted 3 to 2 against the flag display. New council member Kermit Marsh provided the swing vote, saying he was deferring to the wishes of veterans groups in opposing the display.

It apparently has stuck in the craws of U.S. veterans that, although protocol dictates that the American flag not be flown in this country beneath or even the same height as another flag, that has been ignored in Little Saigon.

Not even a compromise, in which the Vietnamese flag would fly four inches below Old Glory, swayed the council majority.

A Vietnamese spokesman said the decision smacked of jingoism or anti-Vietnamese sentiment.

So be it, some said.

For example, the quartermaster for the local VFW post says members held their tongues in the past but no longer. “The majority of the post felt that they shouldn’t even fly it [the Vietnamese flag], shouldn’t even put up their Vietnamese banner on public property.”

As patriotic as the next guy, I’ve never understood why we are hung up on symbols, such as flags. I revere what veterans have done and respect what the flag represents but could comfortably go through life without ever flying or saluting one.

Vietnamese Americans aren’t disrespecting America by flying the flag of their homeland. I understand why it galls American-born citizens, but that doesn’t make it any less pointless.

When the Podunk Marching Band from Iowa unfurls its banner in the annual Rose Parade, we don’t cringe. What’s so frightening about a Mexican flag or a Vietnamese flag?

Human nature, I know. We’re conditioned to protest when another sovereign nation’s flag waves on our soil. But couldn’t we reserve it for enemies?

If you Westminsterites won’t ban all flags, try this: grit your teeth and let both flags fly for a day, or a week.

Instead of squabbling, celebrate your common belief: that a flag is worth all this silly bickering.

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Dana Parsons’ column appears Wednesday, Friday and Sunday. Readers may reach Parsons by calling (714) 966-7821 or by writing to him at the Times Orange County Edition, 1375 Sunflower Ave., Costa Mesa, CA 92626, or by e-mail to: dana.parsons@latimes.com