By judicial decree in 1989, the U.S. Supreme Court amended the United States Constitution by inserting flag burning into the Bill of Rights. That decision took from the American people a fundamental right that had been exercised from our beginning as a Nation the right to protect our flag.

Those who support flag protection do not believe that a "right" to burn the American flag is a legacy of the freedoms bestowed upon us by the architects of our Constitution.

Justice Hugo Black, a First Amendment absolutist, spoke for our cause when he said," It passes my belief that anything in the Federal Constitution bars...making the deliberate burning of the American flag an offense."

In congressional testimony in support of the amendment, baseball great Tommy Lasorda spoke for the common American when he said, "Speech is when you talk."

The necessity and legitimacy of our cause is beyond doubt, and so is the support. The legislatures of all 50 states back this effort, as do three of four Americans and some 70 percent of the US Congress.

Only a handful of USSenators stand between the people and the return of legal protection for the flag.

It is important to note that flag burners are not our primary concern. The problem is with those who call flag burning speech. That is a distortion of our Constitution. Speech is the persuading power that moves people to the ballot box, and those elected to the will of the people. Flag burning is the persuading power of mobs.

But legalized flag burning goes beyond distortion of the Constitution. It also desecrates our values as a nation. Burning the flag is wrong, but what it teaches is worse. It teaches that the outrageous conduct of a minority is more important than the will of the majority. It teaches our laws need not reflect our values, and teaches disrespect for the values embedded in a Constitution that is embodied by the flag.

We have heard from opponents of the flag amendment that our troops fight for the rights of flag burners. Who among them would stand before these men and women and tell them they are fighting in the sandstorms of Iraq so that their flag can be burned on the street corners of America?

General Norman Schwarzkopf spoke for our warriors when he said: "I regard the legal protection of our flag as an absolute necessity and a matter of critical importance to our nation."

There are great and gifted Americans on both sides of this issue and learned opinions, but only one fact: the American people want their right to protect the flag returned.

The Constitution is too important to be left to the Courts and so is the flag. They both belong to the people and it is time to let the people decide, through the process of ratification, if their flag is worthy of protection. Marty Justis, Director Americanism and Children & Youth Division The American Legion national Headquarters Indianapolis, Indiana

The writer is a Navy veteran and serves as director of the Americanism and Children & Youth Division of The American Legion at its national headquarters inIndianapolis, Indiana.