The Protectionist Price of Patriotism

The price for American flags will rise in Minnesota when, as the (U.K.) TimesOnline reports, a new law goes into effect requiring "all US flags sold in the state to be of American manufacture. Violations of the law, which comes into force at the end of the year, will be punished by a $1,000 fine or 90 days in jail."

The man behind the law, Democratic state congressman Tom Rukavina, reasons as follows:

The biggest honor that you can give the flag is that it be made by American workers in the United States of America.... Nothing is more embarrassing to me than a plastic flag made in China. This replica of freedom we so respect should be made in this country.... I think this Bill is about jobs, jobs for Americans.

Several things, elected officials high among them, embarrass me far more than Chinese plastic flags, but we'll let that ride.

I don't know if Minnesota ever had any extensive textile manufacturing, but if it did I rather doubt it wasn't lost years ago to cheaper Southern textile manufacturers who, in turn, lost to cheaper foreign concerns. But who knows? Apparently the Flag Manufacturers’ Association of America is behind the legislation (surprise, surprise!), and perhaps they have offered to keep or build in Minnesota a flag plant to supply the state's new "Made in the U.S.A." needs.

Of course, the state government can impose any restrictions on itself it wants and if taxpayers have to pay a fraction of a penny more in state taxes because their flags have just tripled or quadrupled in price, well, that's just another case of concentrated and visible benefits and diffuse and invisible costs.

Whether Minnesota can, let alone should, keep it's own citizens from buying U.S. flags made in China is another matter entirely. Even if the law is a constitutionally permissible restriction on interstate commerce, which I doubt, its practical effect will be to drive "unpatriotic" Minnesota flag buyers to make their purchases via mail-order or online. Of course, I have no idea what the size of the market for flags in Minnesota is, but the law might even end up reducing the state's net number of jobs. If so, let's hope state congressman Rukavina is among the first to be let go.