Flag Burning Bill Fizzles Out
OK...if you want to get me pissed off, go ahead and burn an American Flag in front of me! I was proud to serve my country way back in the day during the Vietnam War, and I still honor the American Flag and what it stands for. I can't believe that the Senate failed to pass a bill against Flag Burning! This, just before the Fourth of July which is a holiday celebrating our freedom...what were they thinking?
They say the issue is freedom of speech. Well, I believe in freedom of speech just as much as the next guy; but burning the flag is not freedom of speech...it is desecration of the very symbol of freedom that makes The United States of America the great country that it is.
Let me hear your comments on this subject.
6 comments:
The first federal Flag Protection Act was passed by Congress in 1968 in response to protest burnings of the flag at demonstrations against the Vietnam War. Over time, 48 of the 50 U.S. states also enacted similar flag protection laws as well. All of these statutes were overturned by the Supreme Court of the United States by a 5-4 vote in the case Texas v. Johnson, (1989) as unconstitutional restrictions of public expression.
After the Johnson decision, Congress quickly passed a new Flag Protection Act, which was also struck down by the Supreme Court the following year by the same 5-4 majority in the case U.S. v. Eichman (1990). The Court decided that expression through flag burning was constitutionally protected.
BUT...
Ruling in an important First Amendment case, Virginia v. Black, (2003) the U.S. Supreme Court said that states may outlaw acts of cross burning.
Flag burning is just the cowards/cranks way to get attention anyway. If they had any conviction they would stand on a box with a mega-phone and make the people listen, that's freedom of speach.
I disagree with the desacration of the flag as much as you, but there are a whole range of problems with passing legislation such as this.
You have to define burning. What about accidental burning?
You have to define the flag. There is a whole merchandising sector that places the flag on products. Does a shirt with a picture of the flag have these rules applied to it?
Don't you cherish the ability to speak out against the government? If so, then why would you put up any of our rights of expression on the auctioning block, especially in this climate of governmental expansion?
I may be Canadian but I agree with you Mike.
Considering all the stupid laws that governments have passed over the years, it would be nice to see them actually pass one protecting a fundamental symbol of freedom.
And yeah, I know people argue about free speech but how the hell do they think they earned the right to free speech in the first place. It was people who carried that flag into battle that earned it for them !
I agree with you.
The flag is a symbol of freedom and I am proud that I live in such a beautiful country.
I would be very upset and angry with anyone who burns a flag in front of me. My husband would do something I would not like to say here but I'm sure you get the point.
Thank You for serving our country.
I do not like anyone burning the American flag. I do not think it is a real problem, though.
There are other issues (like Social Security, massive deficit, war in Iraq, homeless people, kids without insurance, and the shrinking value of the dollar) that I feel are more important.
Nope, the Congress would rather worry about flag-burning, gay marriage and oil rights in Alaska.
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