The Flag Amendment

This is from a comment I left over at the Diary of a Mad Pigeon.   I’ve changed it slightly as the original was a comment directed to a post of his on his blog.  You can read them here.  The Pigeon and I are on the same side of the issue.

There is no absolute freedom of speech.  I can't write here on this (or any) blog, on bandwidth I (or anyone else) pay(s) for, a threat to the President; regardless if it was serious or not.  There's the old rule that you can't yell "fire" in a crowded theater.  You have the freedom to worship, but that doesn't include things like polygamy or human sacrifice.  (I know, that takes all the fun out of it.) The bottom line is that we restrict people in the exercise of freedom all the time.  As much as we all lust for liberty, it must be tempered by the reasonable restraints imposed by society.  So do we have some "right" to burn a flag in front of city Hall?  Does banning that fall into the realm of "reasonable restraint"?

I've paid my dues.  Twenty years of active duty has to mean something.  Even now, I continue those dues payments.  I might work for a civilian contractor these days, but in my wallet is a USAF ID card that places me in Geneva Convention Category IV. (I don't get the pay, but I get the status - go figure!) Some of my colleagues returned from Afghanistan last November recovering a C-17 that missed the runway.  Some have had to go to Iraq, I was scheduled for a trip to the sandbox last year, but it got cancelled.

Thems my street creds, so where do I stand on the issue?

I suppose, in the end, I come down on the side of freedom.  If it's your flag and if you want to burn it, then by all means, flame on.  If you happen to get arrested for burning your flag because of some local fire safety ordinance, that's the breaks. Like I said, there is no absolute freedom.  Lighting a fire in some places is dangerous. If in lighting that fire, your shirt catches fire too and you wind up with skin grafts, that would also be a consequence you have to deal with.  You have no constitutional protection against stupidity.

The flag stands for something intangible that can't be burned away by anyone.  Some people look at the flag and see only the stains of history and conclude there is no other fit way to show their disgust but to burn it in the public square.  Others, like me, see a different flag.  One whose stains are bleached away by the blood, sweat and tears of millions of immigrants who gave up everything to come here and by countless men and women over the years who honorably served their country in some capacity.

Am I un-American by opposing an amendment banning the burning of the flag?  No, I dare say I see the flag for what it really is.  As for those who stand in the public square and burn the flag, they are the ones who are anti-American and anti-freedom.  They desecrate the very symbol of freedom and free speech they say is their right to express.  It is irony of the highest order. 

So I say to those disposed to burn the flag:  Flame on!  Just know that a whole lot of people lived and died, people that you would spit upon, gave you the right.  If you have an ounce of decency in you as a human being, you'd understand that and protest in a more fitting way.

To the politicians: Bugger off!  We have a lot more serious problems than some idiot torching his flag down on Main Street.  If you really want to do something to protect the flag, do something meaningful to protect our borders.

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VW

Comments

[RevJim]

I feel much the same way. There are laws which protect the Flag, though they are not specific. Add to possible crimes reguarding flag burning, "Inciting a Riot"