Rukavina Response to WSJ
"Letter to Editor"07/11/2007
(Rep. Rukavina response letter-to-the-editor to the July 6, 2007 Wall Street Journal Editorial)
I was elated when a friend told me the Wall Street Journal editorialized on my bill requiring U.S. flags to be made in America. You see, I hardly ever agree with your views since at the Minnesota State Capital I proudly proclaim to be the country's worst capitalist.
Your editorial missed the whole point of my bill, which is to buy American. You erroneously pointed out that baseballs and hotdogs are made overseas. While the inside portion of the baseball is made in Costa Rica, the leather cover is hand sewn by U.S. workers in Tennessee. While Mr. Stienbrenner may import the hot dogs sold in Yankee Stadium, the Minnesota Twins sell nothing but the best - Hormel hot dogs made right here in the Midwest.
If I had my way, American workers in American factories would manufacture many more of the products we use every day. I was taught by my parents to support the American worker. My father, a great union man, insisted on buying everything made in the USA; and while that's getting harder to do, I continue to try. In fact, just this week I bought a Filson jacket made in Seattle, a winter green polar fleece pullover made in Ely, Minnesota, and I just love my Red Wing hiking boots made in Red Wing, Minnesota.
In an era when only the bottom line matters to corporate executives and shareholders, businesses throughout our country have taken advantage of the substandard wages and working conditions in many third world countries. They have ignored the plight of millions of American workers who have lost their jobs, and feel no remorse for the squalid living conditions of the exploited foreign workers who have no choice but to work in the sweatshops. Their profits and quarterly earning reports are all that matter.
Let me get this straight. You think I'm an embarrassment for wanting our flags to be made in the USA. I tell you what, you buy your flag made in Pakistan by some eight year old whose parents may be hiding Osoma Bin Laden; I'll buy my flag made in the USA by a productive American worker.
I know you have a job to do protecting those fat cats on Wall Street. I've got a job to do too, and that is to keep fighting to maintain as many jobs in the USA as possible.
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Flag Banning
Wall Street Journal Editorial
July 6, 2007; Page A8
It's the week to wave the flag, as millions did on the Fourth. However, in the case of Minnesota, perhaps we should say "waive" the flag -- at least if it happens to have been made overseas.
In St. Paul this week, the legislature passed a law making it a misdemeanor to sell a non-made-in-the-USA flag anywhere in the state. "Nothing is more embarrassing to me than a plastic flag made in China," declared Tom Rukavina, who sponsored the bill.
Actually, we can think of several things more embarrassing, starting with Mr. Rukavina.
Under the Minnesota flag law, violators could be subject to a $1,000 fine and 90 days in jail. So under Mr. Rukavina's patriot gaming and thanks to the Supreme Court's 1989 decision in Texas v. Johnson, Minnesotans will be able to legally burn an American flag made in America, but could go to jail for selling one made in Shanghai.
Splendid.
Proponents say this protectionism is about national symbolism, so let's not tell them that Major League baseballs have been made in Costa Rica for years. We also won't tell Mr. Rukavina where his favorite hot dogs are made, much less what they're made of. The Commerce Department says about $5.3 million worth of flags were imported last year, so the ban will not make much of a dent in our trade deficit. According to the Associated Press, the biggest recent surge in flag imports came after September 11. Luckily for Minnesotans, Mr. Rukavina wasn't around to criminalize that patriotic sentiment.
Old Glory stands for freedom, including the right to trade with people of other nationalities. We suspect that when most Americans wave the flag, they care more about the ideas it represents than where it was made.