Flags

The House of Representatives has passed a measure to amend the Constitution to ban flag desecration. Three times prior has this happened only to be denied the needed 67 votes in the Senate. Proponents of the amendment think the recent election's addition of four Republican seats in the Senate should be enough to finally pass this legislation.

This measure has been a favorite of conservatives since the Supreme Court ruled in a 5-4 vote that flag burning was covered under one's freedom of expression. The 1989 Supreme Court ruling overturned a 1968 federal statute. I find it quite fitting that flag burning was curbed as a response to anti-Vietnam war protesters using the act and now conservatives want to once again ban the action as support for the Iraq war is quickly waning.

Flag burning is a typical form of protest in many countries around the world. I believe it is disrespectful, especially when Americans do it, but I believe it is a form of speech and expression. Thankfully, our country's constitution values our freedom of speech and expression. This freedom is at the core of and is essential for a free society. A society with regulated speech is not a free society. More importantly, free speech protects speech that you do not like just as much as it protects speech that you do like.

Now I believe that flag burning is disrespectful, but I do not consider it to be unpatriotic. Expressing your dissatisfication for government actions is not unpatriotic. It takes a significant amount of patriotism to express dissatification against your own country. Thomas Jefferson once said that "dissent is the highest form of patriotism" and I agree with him.

The Senate is supposed to address this issue after their fourth of July recess. So, I have decided to demonstrate my freedom of expression and burn the flag in protest of this Anti-Flag Desecration bullshit before it can be taken away from me. I take no pleasure in my actions. I do admit that my actions are childish and disrespectful but more importantly I believe my actions ARE patriotic and outweigh the negative consequences.







Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah) has said that "I think acts of flag desecration are offensive conduct we ought to ban in the interest of protecting the greatest symbol of our country." This is where I disagree. You can't just ban offensive conduct and content. You see, the symbol of freedom is not as important as the actual freedoms it represents, and thats where the problem stands. Our freedoms are much more important than the flag.

Bills like this one are a measure to slowly chip away our rights. So if we let this one past, what is next? Is disagreeing with the President and speaking out against his policy offensive? Should we ban that too? Hey, lets go a step farther and just ban all books with offensive content. We can start burning books too. You see, chipping away at the freedom of speech is a steep slippery slope. Our freedom of speech protects offensive and unoffensive content all the same and should stay that way, because otherwise it is no longer a freedom.

As a side note, if this measure should pass, how will people dispose of old flags that are no longer suitable for flying? Section 8k of the Flag Code states, "The flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning." So, I suppose this would need an amendment as well.

Let's hope the Senate ends this ridiculous charade and gets down to more important and burning issues, because as a nation that is trying to promote Democracy and freedom throughout the world, isn't this measure a little hypocritical?