Katherine Kersten falls so easily into a self-righteous, false patriotism when talking about a student's right to choose not to stand during a recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance (Twin Cities section, May 15). "Simple respect should prompt you to honor those who bled and died for that flag," Kersten writes.

Wrong. We do not fight for a flag; we fight for the rights that that flag represents. Chief among those rights is the part of the First Amendment to the Constitution reading, "Congress shall make no law [...] abridging the freedom of speech." You read it right, folks: the US wages war to guarantee not only its citizens' lives but also their liberty, part of which is the choice to refuse pledges to both God and country.

That's pretty radical, but the Framers wouldn't have had it any other way.