Did I call that a flag? Yes. Just as a flag can be made of crepe paper or cloth, it also can be made of granite, as with the 10 Commandments being used for political purposes.

By waving the "thou shalt" banner, for want of better ideas on how to govern, Perdue and fellow social conservatives now ask Georgia voters to salute him again.

If you don't, you must be against godliness.

If one pays attention to modern politics, one realizes that most of it has to do with parading around with banners, and most of them have almost nothing to do with education, health care, highways, drinking water and jobs.

Gov. Rick Perry, for lack of other evidence that he was furthering Texas governance, gallantly waved the "save marriage" banner last year. Oh, what a crisis Texas was facing. Or, if it had none, what a crisis to invent.

Texans dutifully marched to the polls and made something that was already illegal — same-sex marriage — doubly so.

Good politics. Consider 2004. Our nation was knee-deep in Iraq and waste-deep in debt. Now, it's shoulder-deep in both. Somehow, however, same-sex marriage got major play in that presidential election.

But, you see, it's all about flags, and waving them, and seeing who salutes. Or what's a "flag protection amendment" for?

Flags have become a central "issue" in the discussion over immigration. Mexican flags in pro-immigration rallies stoked flames of umbrage for people who wanted a reason to get angry. (There's so little else happening to draw a person's attention, after all.)

And then there's the newly recorded Spanish version of the "Star-Spangled Banner." Now, that's an issue that affects our every waking moment. I haven't slept since I heard the first stanza. I've been frantic. And you?

President Bush may have blunted the free fall of his poll numbers by saying it ought to be sung in English. There you have it. Governance that matters.

Such courage we see in our executive branches. Such urgency to deal with matters that bear on America's future.

What matters to many, of course, is what flag is being waved and who's saluting it. Actual governing is not what matters. It's all about identifying a core constituency and flying a flag that 50 percent plus one vote will salute.

Speaking of the Georgia governor, he is being assailed, indeed booed, by many in his core constituency. He promised that Georgians could vote on restoring the old flag. He failed to deliver.

Just because you can wave the flag doesn't mean you can govern. Then again, that doesn't make you any less electable.