This week the congress was busy debating a constitutional amendment that would give our government powers to deal with the destruction of the national Flag. Not a surprising development, but disappointing nonetheless. After the gay marriage ban failed to turn into a long lasting hot issue, the flag desecration was expected to be next. Midterm elections are almost here and the party currently in power needs more social issues in the spotlight to get their base out. Abortion, school prayer, death tax, gun control and displaying Ten Commandments in courthouses will be following soon. We should be discussing the war in Iraq, national security, economy, education, healthcare and other issues instead, but since our representatives chose to talk about the flag, I would like to offer just a couple of somewhat random thoughts on the subject.
Desecrating American flag is like calling your mother a bad name: its wrong, its disgusting, and its protected by the First Amendment. Our flag is a very powerful symbol. It stands for freedoms, rights, opportunities, and among other things, justice. Americans are willing to sacrifice everything for what this flag stands for. Sadly and ironically, to prohibit the destruction of the American flag would be to diminish what it represents.
Despite what was being said in the senate these couple of days, flag burning is extremely rare. Americans might disagree on certain issues, but all of us appreciate and respect the flag. Even the most extreme demonstrators and protestors who wish to make a point realize that burning the flag is not the way to do it. Of course there will always be idiots who choose to do it. However, is there any reason to believe that an amendment would reduce the number of such incidents? It might actually make it more tempting of an act, being more of a taboo and all.
It is also interesting to notice that some of the loudest proponents of the amendment are individuals who lately have been ignoring what our flag symbolizes. I’m talking about senators and representatives who allowed Bush administration to spy on Americans without a warrant, hold foreigners and American citizens in prisons without charging them with a crime, torture people while ignoring the Geneva Conventions and the list goes on. One good way for them to protect and defend the flag would be to provide some sort of oversight of the executive branch. But protecting constitution is a bit harder than staging an attempt to amend it.
But these are all minor points. Our country is at war—or at least our soldiers are. Everyday they are loosing their health, their youth and their lives because of the reckless decision our government made. We should be talking about bringing them home as soon as possible. Debating anything else right now just seems so inappropriate.
