Protesting SHOULD NEVER be about the destruction of anything. Feel free to protest all you wish. But the purposeful destruction of property(anyone's) is not protesting but vandalizing.
While the American flag itself is a materialistic object and belongs to the person whose rightful ownership is proved by possesion, the representation of that flag belongs to the people, and I for one do not give my permission to destroy what is mine by right. The flag itself represents the people that fought and died for you to have that right to protest They did nothing to you so why would you be protesting them. The misconception that a flag represents the Government needs to be clarified. It doesn't represent the government..it never has been a representation of the government body. It represents the people of a nation. It represents the lives of the many that have died to protect the people and their ideology of life. It represents the honor of being a part of the nation as much as it represents the courage of the people who have died protecting it. It represents the ideology of TRUTH, LIBERTY, and the PURSUIT of HAPPINESS.
The act of burning it is a protest against those things and would be in fact against what someone would be protesting for.
If you wish to protest the leaders of this country then direct your protests to them. Not towards the American Flag.
By protesting the American flag you are not protesting against the leaders but against the nation itself which would mean that you do not believe in Its way of life such as the freedom of speech that you are trying to assert in the act of destroying what represents that freedom.
Kind of moronic if you think about it.