Flag Burning Amendment
--posted by Tony Garcia on 6/22/2005
There is an amendment going through Congress right now to amend the Constitution.
"The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States." SJ 12 or HJ 10.
This, if passed, would give Congress (an unsavory bunch) carte blanche to ban anything that desecrates or is disrespectful to the flag. Uh, technically that includes bikinis with a flag print, ties with a flag print, lapel pins w/ incorrect depictions of the flag, the magnets that say "support our troops".
That kind of open-check, if you will, in the hands of Congress is always bad for the country, for freedom and for liberty.
So that is one reason to oppose the Flag Burning Amendment. It is too open-ended for Congress.
America is about freedom. Freedom of speech, freedom of expression, freedom to vote or not, freedom of the press...freedom. Freedom by definition implies fewer laws not more. Adding a Constitutional Amendment allowing for more laws to prohibit expression (offensive or not) adds laws and limits freedom.
That is reason number two to oppose the Flag Burning Amendment.
Reason number 3: Sen Diane Feinstein supports the amendment.
3 Comments:
Amen to that. Always remember John Ashcroft--your rights are next.
Right on, Tony. As usual, I seem to be in the minority among my fellow conservatives, but perhaps we stand a fighting chance in this debate. It will be interesting to see what becomes of this.
Bravo Tony. Mark Dayton and Norm Coleman both support this amendment. You should be sending your post as an email to Norm Coleman at opinion@coleman.senate.gov.
The Cato Institute gives similar arguments. Banning flag burning in the constitution idolizes the flag, but ironically defaces the values that the flag stands for.
Trying to say that people who oppose this amendment are supporting flag burning is like saying that people who oppose hate crimes legislation for good libertarian reasons, support hate crimes.
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