Some North Dakota Legislators Apparently Don’t Want American Flags Sold In North Dakota

• January 22, 2009

Given that most American flags are made in places like China.
House Bill 1162 would ban the sale of American flags in North Dakota that aren’t made in the United States. Apparently because it’s not patriotic to buy an American flag made anywhere else.
My reaction? There is nothing more patriotic than buying foreign goods if the foreign good in question meets the buyer’s criteria on price and quality. The fact that almost any American can travel just a few blocks from home and browse down aisles filled with products from all over the world is a testament to our power and prosperity. It’s a good thing. It’s a quintessentially American thing, because what other country in the history in the world has had such ready access to products from all over the world?
And let’s not forget that the competition the presence of foreign-made goods brings to our markets is part of the foundation our wildly prosperous free market economy is based on. If our markets were limited only to products made in America we’d all find our purchasing power to be significantly less than it is now. If we couldn’t buy foreign-made goods, we’d be forced to buy more expensively-made domestic products. Which would inflate the cost of living for all Americans, and would ultimately stagnate our economy.
Competition is a good thing. I want American companies to have to compete with foreign companies, because I want the best products at the lowest prices available. This nonsense about banning flags not made in America is a slap in the face of one of the basic freedoms that makes this country what it is.
It’s downright offensive.

Tags: Asshats, North Dakota News, Politics

http://Array ellinas

Trading with other countries allows us to influence them in positive (and more pervasive) ways than our diplomacy ever could.
Also, trade brings down prices here in America. Not only does our money go over there to help them be more prosperous, but by driving down prices through free market competition our purchasing power goes up. It’s a win-win. Everyone prospers.

Rob on January 21, 2009 at 05:25 pm

So tell me again why this does not apply to Cuba?
welder4

No law should be made to limit what one can buy and where it is made, a single most expressive right we have , I do have a preference and I buy American Flags made in the U.S.A. it is a small thing I do, but it is choice and choice is good . I always look for the label Made in U.S.A. and yes it is a big deal to me because I don”t have same jerk with a badge telling me I have to buy it because it is green or red or made in the back yard of some fellow in grease pole India where ever? , yes we need competition it makes us better as providers of good products and safe products. If all people felt the way Rob does we would have no factories nor would we have an economy to speak of . It takes a balance and sometimes the balance is unfairly tilted and to save money on the backs of slave labor is not a good thing . But yes Rob is right it is not a good thing to bar sales of anything , people should have all the choices they want .
FlyOnTheWall

This isn’t about freedom or competition. It boils down to patriotism, pure and simple.

Wait! Sorry, missed one. We are patriotic because we are free to choose patriotism. (We as in Rob, me Greg and some other guy somewhere else.)
http://SayAnythingBlog.com The_Whistler_ofnd

It could be made right here in the U.S. if the manufacturers weren’t so greedy.

Wrong, it’s the liberal tax, regulate and spend mentality along with the unions that has decimated American manufacturing.

As far as the matter of the topic, it’s my right as an American to buy a flag made in China.
ollie-B

This isn’t about freedom or competition. It boils down to patriotism, pure and simple. Why the hell should we buy an American flag made in a foreign country? It could be made right here in the U.S. if the manufacturers weren’t so greedy. And of course you blame the unions, even you don’t say it. You have expressed your contempt for unions enough times in the blog that it is almost implied.
FlyOnTheWall

It could be made right here in the U.S. if the manufacturers weren’t so greedy.

You’re saying American companies refuse to sell a product for money because of their greed???? You need to clarify, the words placed in the order you placed them don’t mean what you think they mean.
http://americanboom.com/blog/ Betty McDougal

You make a good point but we can’t sit back and act like lame ducks! Our nation is in serious trouble how can you say that competition is good for us? Not buying foreign made flags wont impact much of anything. I think the point of the law would effect morale more than sales figures. That’s just my opinion, I’m trying to read up on this topic and I’m glad I came across your blog. I’m also reading AmericanBoom.com/blog to learn more about this “Buy American” idea. Check it out maybe you’ll learn something also.
sayanything-4625

What gives them the right to do this? I thought that interstate commerce was regulated by the fed?
http://pocketjacksblog.blogspot.com/ Jay W.

Yes. The federal government should enforce a pay scale so that all Americans could be guaranteed a wage that would allow them to live the life they want to lead. Then all the corporations that couldn’t do that (which would be most, if not all of them) would go bankrupt. Then we could have a third world economy where everyone is equally poor.

Do you see why this would be a bad idea?

The purpose of a corporation is to make money. The promise of making money is what drives companies to succeed and grow. Without profit as a driver, there is no incentive to produce more than the individual has to in order to survive.

Capitalism is not perfect, but it is the reason the vast majority of citizens in capitalist countries live better than those that don’t. Our “working poor” have cars and tvs and homes. They die in large numbers due to starvation.

Those “evil corporations” moving their operations to foreign countries are doing those countries a favor; those are jobs that wouldn’t otherwise exist. If they didn’t pay well (relative to the local economy) the people wouldn’t work them. Why is that so hard to understand?
ellinas

No law should be made to limit what one can buy and where it is made, a single most expressive right we have

welder4 on January 21, 2009 at 09:29 pm

Does the above include Cuba?
ollie-B

I guess it doesn’t include Cuba. Our embargo against Cuba makes all the above arguments mute, silly and just plain stupid. There goes the “freedom” argument. As far as greed goes, manufacturers want to make products as cheaply as possible while maximizing profits. So they close up shops here and relocate to countries where the average worker makes $200 a year. I guess to some people it means more to save a few pennies rather than see Americans employed. Then they bitch about the cost of public assistance for the unemployed.
http://pocketjacksblog.blogspot.com/ Jay W.

They die in large numbers due to starvation.

Obviously, I meant they *don’t* die. And I even previewed the post….
jimmypop

these
people
are
stupid
crshedd

exact same thing when the gop forced the capital cafeteria to change the name of fries to ‘freedom fries’.

legislators, both parties, wasting time and money on the stupidest things.
sayanything-4625

It could be made right here in the U.S. if the manufacturers weren’t so greedy.

Do some research and only buy flags made in America. Problem solved!
sayanything-4625

A quick Google search turned up 3,600,000 hits for American made flags. The very first hit was a store that sold only flags made in America. Everyone should now be happy.
ec99

And Weezie Potter is introducing a bill mandating a football game between UND and NDSU. Do any of these legislators take their job seriously?
http://sayanythingblog.com robport

It boils down to patriotism, pure and simple. Why the hell should we buy an American flag made in a foreign country?

I am patriotic because I believe America embraces freedom, and that means the freedom to buy products from wherever the heck I want.

That’s what it means to be patriotic, not some misguided xenophobia.
http://sayanythingblog.com robport

Right, Greg.

If people cared about where their flags were made they’d vote with their wallets. They don’t, so flags are made all over the world.

I really don’t see why people have such a big problem with free choice.
http://suitepotato.blogspot.com/ sayanything-4808

Making flags costs next to nothing in terms of raw materials and labor with modern automation here in the USA. Even more so, that is closer to nothing, elsewhere.

Rob is correct. It was a mark of power on the part of ancient societies to bring foreign goods in precisely because it reflected the power and reach to go get them. Saffron, Tyrian purple, etc. In some ways you can say English colonialism had quite a bit to do with there being no good Indian or Chinese takeout until someone went there to find out about the food in the first place.

The money we send overseas is the thing which can eliminate things like Islamic Supremacism. While it can be misused by corrupt governments, when it is put into the hands of the private citizens of other nations both in paychecks and into the hands of their businesses, they don’t just buy bubblegum with it, they invest it right there in their own nations. Shopkeepers profit, the people who they buy goods from profit, their economy strengthens, and strong economies are a necessary component of world peace given that personal economic freedom is irrelevant without money to spend and goods or services to buy. Where there’s money, there’s people doing work to get that money, and industry brings advancement personally and technologically.

Buy flags anywhere. What matters is, what is the flag? American, or the UN? There’s places in the US that have more UN flags and flags with pictures of the Earth on them than American flags, even at the 4th of July (Greenfield, MA, I’m pointing squarely at you.)

Now if they wanted a rule that we HAD to fly the flag for someone else’s sense of patriotism or that we COULDN’T fly it for fear of offending someone, THEN I’d worry.
http://sayanythingblog.com robport

The money we send overseas is the thing which can eliminate things like Islamic Supremacism. While it can be misused by corrupt governments, when it is put into the hands of the private citizens of other nations both in paychecks and into the hands of their businesses, they don’t just buy bubblegum with it, they invest it right there in their own nations.

Just to expand on those excellent points, let’s not forget that tying foreign country’s economic interests to our own is a good way to maintain peace. China could be a gigantic threat to our security, but they aren’t. Because China knows that if they lose us as customers their economy is sunk.

Trading with other countries allows us to influence them in positive (and more pervasive) ways than our diplomacy ever could.

Also, trade brings down prices here in America. Not only does our money go over there to help them be more prosperous, but by driving down prices through free market competition our purchasing power goes up. It’s a win-win. Everyone prospers.

Free trade is a wonderful thing. I detest all protectionism.
http://sayanythingblog.com robport

Wrong, it’s the liberal tax, regulate and spend mentality along with the unions that has decimated American manufacturing.

Exactly right.

SayAnythingBlog.com

Some North Dakota Legislators Apparently Don’t Want American Flags Sold In North Dakota

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