Thursday, June 23, 2005

Flag Burning Amendment

The House of Representatives has passed a Constitutional Amendment banning flag burning. Chances are it'll never pass the Senate.

At least, I hope not. Seriously, are all the people on Capitol Hill smoking crack?

1) Flag burning, while vile, is still an expression of free speech. I believe that was decided years ago. If I'm wrong, somebody please correct me.

2) What's next after this? Banning writing on the flag? Just how far are you going to go in order to enforce this amendment? Just how much time is going to be wasted on a bunch of anti-American shitheels who decided to use Old Glory as a BBQ starter? Are we then going to move on to other forms of desecration? How many amendments are we going to need just to enforce this one?

3) With all the issues that need to be addressed in this country, I can't believe that those dipshits on Capitol Hill felt that THIS one issue took top priority. For God's sake, we still have major issues that need to be resolved regarding President Bush's judges, military spending, taxes (and the lowering thereof), and every other issue that effects this country as a whole, and these nitwits are talking about banning flag burning?

This tells me that they have no real priorities and no clue when it comes to what matters in this country.

Let me be clear on this - I think that burning the American flag is vile, and if you have a right to burn the flag, I have a right to label you a communist asscannon who's only purpose in life is to become worm food. But to add an amendment to the Constitution of the United States in order to outlaw flag burning is one of the biggest wastes of time I have ever seen. And to be honest, I'd rather I knew who my enemies are. People who burn the American flag make themselves easy to identify.

In my opinion, this is a frivolous waste of time. The Constitution doesn't need another Amendment, and my so-called representatives don't need to be spending time outlawing an activity that only shows the idiocy of those who perform it.

The congresscritters need to start working on enforcing Bush's agenda, something that they've failed to do for most of the President's term. If they want to do something worthwhile, stop wasting time on flag burning.

UPDATE: More conservative bloggers think that the amendment is a bad idea. Captain Ed says that this amendment addresses the symptoms, not the disease:

In fact, the solution here isn't even an amendment. It is to nominate and confirm judges that not only will stop looking for emanations from penumbras that don't exist in the Constitution and will respect the division of powers instead of creating laws themselves. We need justices who understand that the so-called "living document" only means that it can be amended by the people when so desired, but otherwise means what it says. These ideas aren't radical, despite recent partisan mudflinging to the contrary.

The fact that two-thirds of the Senate appears to be ready to vote to approve this amendment shows a bipartisan recognition of the problem. Those who vote to approve this mistake should be held accountable for their inability to approve justices that would correct the actual problem of judicial activism and will reverse the most egregious examples of its implementation when the opportunities arise, starting with that 1989 decision that kicked this entire battle into high gear.


The Captain has a well thought out argument to the Amendment. And on a blog found through Instapundit, the Anchoress also reasons against the whole thing.

Burning the flag is stupid. It is moronic. It is infantile. It is the sort of thing they do in places where America is hated. Some might say you can “love” America and still burn the flag in protest, but I have met a few flag-burners in my day and I never knew a one of them that wasn’t all about simply being a part of something “happening” and provocative. And a few of them regret it, now, all these years later.

Nevertheless, I cannot support this amendment. I think it too is stupid. And moronic. It is the sort of suppressive and insecure thing they do in places where - ironically - America is being asked to bring freedom. Places like Cuba, fer instance.


From everything I've read, my suspicion that the Republican Party is more and more out of touch with it's base seems to have some credibility. Why are the 'Pubs wasting time on what is essentially a non-issue?

My thoughts on this tend more toward's Captain Ed's reasoning than anyone else's. The Republicans, having failed to do much of anything that the President has asked, are trying to make it look like they're doing something worthwhile. Unfortunately for them, we can see through their act.

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