REPEAT AFTER ME: NEVER TAKE LEGAL ADVICE FROM SLASHDOT
Get a lawyer
Well, that already sounds like a legal advice though, hence don't take it!
To most (non-american) people that's just plain bizarre. Outside the USA, you'll only see it in dictatorships that tries to whip up unity/loyalty for to state, but obvously it's not quite the same thing here (since americans spam their surroundings with US flags by their own free will, not by a state decree).
You have to understand that the US has a history very different than that of European nations, in that we defined our very existence by fighting for our freedom. That fight was symbolized from the very beginning by the flag, whose image was used to unite the disparate colonies behind a single goal of American freedom. That flag was commissioned by George Washington, who realized that a nation and an army needed a common identity if the war for independece was to be won. Realize that, prior to that point, America was just 13 colonies. The flag was used to make them a nation.
Because of that, the flag itself has become a symbol of freedom and the fight for it. That's why our national anthem is a poem written about the flag (in the War of 1812). That's why most lasting image of WWII (for Americans) is four soldiers lifting the flag at Iwo Jima. I could go on...
As such, particularly for the military, the flag represents both who you are and what you're fighting for. Because Americans fought for their freedom and to create our very existence as a separate entity from a colonial power, our flag means a whole hell of a lot more to us than it probably does for most countries.
You always take for granted that for which you didn't have to struggle. Americans have been taught about that struggle and what it means, and many of us refuse to take freedom for granted.
However, you seem to forget that the US is not the only country/nation who fought for it's independence. Other countries did that as well and they also had their flags emerge from these wars. They do not go on displaying the flag all around though. And when they do, the US tends to characterize them either as fanatics or even worse terrorists. (ok, I *might* be stretching it a bit, but you see my point, right?)
Moreover, a nation that is united only by a flag is not in any case a nation by definition.
As a final note, you claim that the flag represents, between others, what you are fighting for. Do you think that applies to the wars in Afganistan, Iraq, Balkans, etc? Do you believe that these wars were fought to protect the freedom of the United States?
"The lesser of two evils -- is evil." -- Seymour (Sy) Leon
