Earlier this week, U.S. Rep. Mike Michaud, D-Maine, along with a bipartisan coalition of 59 members of Congress, called on the U.S. Olympic Committee to make sure the uniforms for U.S. Olympic athletes are made from manufacturers here in the United States.

We applaud this letter and agree with Michaud’s concern after the country learned late last week that Ralph Lauren, the company that designed the uniforms for the 2012 U.S. Olympic team, had them made in China.

That never should have happened.

Olympic athletes representing this country have a great sense of pride, and the games serve as a reminder of the hard work and enduring spirit of these talented individuals.

Our workers also take great pride in their crafts, and textile manufacturers in the United States would be delighted to see our athletes adorned in U.S.-made uniforms in London later this month when they compete against the best athletes from around the world.

Instead, Ralph Lauren’s decision to allow China to manufacture the uniforms is a blow to our national identity.

The United States is in the middle of a five-year economic crisis where hundreds of companies have closed and millions of jobs have been lost. Millions of families are struggling to buy food, pay bills and pay for their homes. Millions of retirement accounts have been erased, and Americans are worrying about the future as well as their day-to-day struggles.

Many jobs have been lost to overseas manufacturers such as companies in Taiwan, Japan, India and China. What does it say to the American people that our country’s Olympics uniforms were made in a foreign land, by foreign hands allowing that foreign place to make money off of our name? It says that once again big business doesn’t care about the American worker or good of the country, it only cares about profits.

The Olympics only occur once every four years. The games provides two weeks of national pride as we watch our best athletes represent the United States on the world’s biggest stage against the world’s best athletes. We watch them stand on the podium with the American flag draped across their chests, singing the National Anthem. Now, we will be watching our athletes represent us on the world’s biggest stage wearing uniforms that read USA on the front, but Made in China on the tag. That simply isn’t right.

Rep. Peter Stark, D-California, one of the members of Congress who signed the letter, said that these uniforms now represent a glaring reminder that America has gotten away from its core values, and we agree.

What message are we sending when we allow a competing and emerging economic superpower to make clothes designed for American athletes? Even though the decision was made at Ralph Lauren, that decision speaks for us all. And it says we don’t care about the American worker, we only care about profits.

The decision-makers at Ralph Lauren should be ashamed, and the USOC needs to make sure this does not happen in the future.

We don’t outsource our athletes, and we shouldn’t outsource our Olympic uniforms. As a country, we need to return to “Made in America,” and show the pride we have for American-made goods. That is the only way we will prosper.

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Today’s editorial was written by Sports Editor Al Edwards representing the majority opinion of the Journal Tribune Editorial Board. Questions? Comments? Contact Managing Editor Kristen Schulze Muszynski by calling 282-1535, Ext. 322, or via email at kristenm@journaltribune.com.