The Flag-Burning Thing

The House today voted by a significant majority to amend the Constitution to prohibit desecration of the American flag. Now I'm sure that some of my regular readers would expect me to applaud such a move by the House, being a good conservative and all, but frankly, I don't think this is a wise use of Congress' time. I believe the First Amendment was designed primarily to protect political speech (not all speech which is how it has been misinterpreted by the courts). That's why I am very much opposed to campaign finance reform, because in my view, if not the court's, campaign donations are a form of political speech and should be unlimited.

The court's didn't see it my way, and so we have silly regulations that give rise to such nonsense as 527 organizations. The fact is, money will flow into politics no matter what the lawmakers try to do to stop it. People who want to express themselves through campaign donations will find a way to do it.

Protecting political speech means protecting ALL political speech, even if it takes forms that we personally find abhorrent. The flag is the symbol of our country and many, many brave people have died trying to protect the nation for which it stands. Desecrating the flag is a disgrace, but should it be a Federal crime? If the desecration is occurring as a form of political protest, then I think you have to allow it, no matter what personal disgust that desecration may generate. The exercise the House went through to approve this amendment smacks a little bit to me as grandstanding and one side trying to claim they're more patriotic than the other. I don't think that's a valuable expenditure of time and talent.

Another problem that I see with this thing is how exactly will a "flag" be defined? Is it a cloth or vinyl banner to be hung on a flagpole, or could it be a drawing, painting or screenprint? If someone wads up their drawing of the flag or throws their flag t-shirt in the trash, is that desecration? My son has red, white and blue boxer shorts that have a flag motif (from Old Navy). Is it going to be a crime to wear them? What if he experiences occasional flatulence while wearing them, will he get extra jail time for that?

The problem with laws like this is they're basically unenforceable, and would require excessive additional legislation or court decisions to define them in a way that would be meaningful.

I doubt this amendment will get the required 2/3rds support in the Senate, so it's probably a dead issue anyway, and if it fails to get the support of the Senate, I will not be particularly disturbed about it. I think I would be more disturbed if it passed.

My only request - if you're going to burn the flag, please wrap yourself in it before you strike the match.