Demagogue

It's baaaaacck.

A constitutional amendment that would allow Congress to outlaw debasing the American flag is again before lawmakers, and lobbyists on both sides say the conservative tilt of this Senate gives the measure its best chance of Congressional approval since the Supreme Court ruled 16 years ago that flag burning was a form of protected speech.

The Senate has always held his back from passing-- until now. Even Hillary Clinton won't take a position on it-- she says "I'm studying the issue." Sadly, in these times politicians have every reason to be wary of this issue in our increasingly polarized, nationalistic nation. It's a campaign attack ad waiting to be made, "Did you know Senator so-and-so supports burning the American flag?"

The major thing that bugs me about this issue is what are you supposed to do if a flag touches the ground? Or if it is damaged?

Burn it.

Guess who burns the most flags? The American Legion and the Boy Scouts burn thousands of flags a year. So this really isn't about flag desecration at all, it's about banning what people are thinking or expressing when they burn the flag-- it is banning speech that is critical of the government.

But what's truly absurd is when was the last time you saw a flag being burned in America? I have been to countless lefty/anti-war demonstrations, rallies and marches over the past 15 years and I've never seen a flag being burned. I know more political activists who have participated in demonstrations than people who never have, but I don't know anyone who has ever burned a flag. So how come this issue continues to waste our congressional leaders time? Why are they acting as though this is some kind of widespread epidemic?

This is nothing more than pure, unadulterated demagoguery-- they are prescribing a constitutional amendment to address a "problem" that doesn't even exist just so they can inflame people's emotions and score political points. Ironically, if it ever were to become part of the U.S. Constitution, it will likely provoke public flag burnings.