Is love of the flag obscuring our freedom of speech?

We have some pretty thin skinned legislators. Every great now and then, we see images from other countries of people burning the Stars and Stripes - sorry guys, there is nothing we can do about that. Hardly ever do we hear of people in this country doing the same - to the contrary - demonstrators today carry the flag proudly during marches. We saw more U.S. flags than Mexican flags during the recent immigration demonstrations.

So what in the world are these guys in Washington thinking? If flag burning offends these guys that much, perhaps they should look away or change the channel. We do not need an amendment to the Constitution just to ban flag burning. Let's face it people, burning the flag is another form of free speech. Adding a new amendment would basically say, "you can have free speech, but only to a point." If something like flag burning offends people, that's too bad. I don't care much for people who burn the flag, but I'm not so put off by the sight that I would call for their incarceration.

If we're going to start banning things because they offend people, perhaps we need to start with right wing talk radio and left wing talk radio. What about pornography? Hell, George W. Bush offends a lot of people - how about a Constitutional amendment banning the sight and sound of anything Bush?

The first amendment is in place to prevent the majority of people from trampling on the speech of the minority. The fact we have a Congress that would even consider debating this foolish move speaks volumes about the kind of men and women we have in Congress.

Before people start accusing me of spouting left-wing political dribble, consider this: editorials from several heartland newspapers are also calling for Congress to abort this folly. From the Fort

Wayne Journal Gazette in an editorial entitled "No 'but' in First Amendment":

Among the numerous problems facing the nation, few Americans could convincingly argue that flag burning is near the top. Yet the U.S. Senate considers flag burning – something that rarely occurs in this nation – to be worthy not just of its attention but of a constitutional amendment.From the Des Moines Register comes one called "burn this amendment":

Boy, this flag burning must really be a problem if members of Congress are compelled to alter the U.S. Constitution. So we've been keeping an eye out around Iowa. We haven't found one person burning a flag — even with the United States mired in an unpopular war in Iraq.

Congress is proposing yet another "solution" in search of a problem that doesn't exist.

Old Glory doesn't need protecting. Apparently constitutional rights do.Even Bush's state of Texas. From the Dallas Star Telegram:

In a perfect world, we wouldn't need to protect the flag, but the principles it symbolizes -- free speech, for instance -- are more important than the symbol itself. The flag represents the very thing that gives people the right to use it in a way that causes others to want to impale them on a flagpole.

The Chicago Sun-Times

says:

But, in fact, this is a classic example of a solution in search of a problem. Flag burnings, which most of us associate with Vietnam-era protests, have all but disappeared from the American landscape. No protests of the war in Iraq (which have been relatively few) have featured flag desecrations. The closest anyone has come to publicly mistreating the flag, arguably, was a case of two of athletes wrapping themselves in it at the Olympics.

From the Oshkosh Northwestern:

Further, supporters of the amendment have not made a compelling case that the national interest is jeopardized by the relatively few occurances of flag burning. What this bill amounts to at best is feel-good legislation. Elected officials get to feel good in an election year about something that in the grand scheme of things chips away at our constitutional rights.

The Senate needs to understand that even among veterans groups there is disagreement over the amendment. Veterans Defending the Bill of Rights has gone on record as being disgusted with flag burning protests but against a constitutional amendment.

Too bad there aren't more important issues for Congress to look at - after all, the country is great shape right now (man, it really hurts when I implant my tongue that deep into my cheek).