Flag Burning = Free Speech
I can’t believe, with all the other problems we, as a country, are facing (corruption, wars, and crime, just to name a few) that we are really seeing another anti-flag burning amendment working its way through the House and Senate. Good ol’ Orrin Hatch is getting into the act again:
“It’s important that we venerate the national symbol of our country,” said Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, the amendment’s chief sponsor. “Burning, urinating, defecating on the flag - this is not speech. This is offensive conduct.” (USA Today - on Yahoo! News)
This is the same guy who suggested that the Recording Industry use some sort of remote method to destroy people’s personal computers if they are using P2P software and downloading copyrighted materials. I’m not sure I want some guy who’s all about invading people’s homes and remotely destroying their property telling me what’s offensive conduct.
Here’s what I posted on a board I frequent that leans far to the right:
Freedom of speech is a hard freedom to handle. It requires a great deal of effort. Most of that effort is exerted by allowing the free expression of views that are diametrically opposed to one’s own.
The Supreme Court ruled that burning of the flag is an expression of free speech. I happen to agree with this ruling. This amendment smacks of oppression and thought control to me. Where does it stop? Today it’s burning the flag, tomorrow it’s wearing an article of clothing with the image of the flag on it in an “improper” location, a few years from now it’s posting negative comments about the administration in a personal blog (China does it all day, every day). It’s a slippery slope and when we start allowing erosion of one liberty (even one that is as provocative as burning a symbol of our country) we open the door for other liberties to be tossed upon the fire. That to me is a greater desecration of what our country stands for than burning its symbol.
The way I see it, the greatest test of how much one loves the freedom our country represents is to watch someone else desecrate the very symbol of our country and allow them the space and the voice to do so. You can’t make someone respect the flag or the country by making an amendment to the Constitution. Respect is cultivated by teaching and personal experiences, it cannot be forced.
