Currently the Congress is trying to pass an amendment that makes it possible for them to ban flag-burning. Now, I’m not a big fan of burning the U.S. flag, but I am a big fan of free speech, and I consider it very unpatriotic of these so-called Americans to chip away at the First Amendment simply because it personally offends them.
Besides, do you think it’ll stop flag-burning? Hardly. Flag-burners will consider it an unjust law and violate it on principle. As soon as that amendment is passed, I guarantee there will be flag-burning rallies, followed by useless mass arrests. I would much rather that the police spend their time rounding up drunk drivers, wife-beaters, shoplifters, con artists, drug-traffickers, gangsters, child-molesters, rapists, and murderers, than flag-burners. I don’t like them either; such behavior offends me. But just because I don’t like country music (which also offends me, aesthetically) doesn’t mean we should round up all the country musicians and run a steamroller over their CDs. I can ignore them, just like I ignore the flag-burners.
Another blog pointed out the futility of such an amendment with visual aids:
If the colors aren’t red, white, and blue, it’s not a U.S. flag. Right? So red, gray, and blue shouldn’t count.
Maybe you could replace all the stars with diamonds, or include an extra stripe or star—those aren’t U.S. flags either. True, burning such a flag will still annoy patriots; but it’s not the U.S. flag. So unless the amendment includes all flag-like objects, you’re not breaking any laws. And you get to annoy Congress members just as much.
Honestly—with all the tax money we’ll pay on enforcing this stupid amendment, we could be buying U.S. soldiers some decent body armor. The bill’s currently in the Senate. Go yell at your senator.