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Flag-burning amendment

Yes, but this wording doesn't ban burning the flag as a form of peaceful protest, which is exactly the behavior that proponents of such a ban are generally trying to prohibit.
 
Since you're supposed to dispose of a flag which has been desecrated by burning it, that makes a fairly obvious symbolism for flag-burning which is not neccesarily anti-American. Disgraceful actions on the part of the government can be percieved as desecrating the purity of the flag, and therefore require the flag to be burned.
 
Those notion of burning something as a form of expression is not limited to conventionally "liberal" or "conservative" causes.

I'm not all that fond of burning anything as a form of expression, whether it be a flag, a book, a draft card, an effigy, or one one's own body.

But I'm not really fond of prohibiting any form of harmless expression merely because a majority find disagreeable the message conveyed thereby. Such a prohibition would be tyrannical and unamerican.
 
UserGoogol said:
Since you're supposed to dispose of a flag which has been desecrated by burning it, that makes a fairly obvious symbolism for flag-burning which is not neccesarily anti-American. Disgraceful actions on the part of the government can be percieved as desecrating the purity of the flag, and therefore require the flag to be burned.
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So I am trying to figure this out. Burning the flag would be allowed. However, burning the flag while being disrespectful "to the republic for which it stands" is apparently not ok. Doesn't this mean that the purpose of the amendment is not to prevent flag burning, but prevent "disrespecting the republic?" Isn't the whole purpose of the first amendment to protect the rights of the citizens to express their views of the nation without the government interferring?

I used to be a little skeptical of the whole "burning the flag is protected speech" thing, but when put in the context of "it's not burning the flag that is wrong, but its the 'disrespecting the country' that makes it so," I can see the case.
 
If the USA passes a law against flag burning I will stand on the the Canadian side of the border and burn an American flag while people who cross through customs can watch.

Similarly, if Canada passes a law against burning our flag I will expect one of my American friends to do likewise.
 
Ladewig said:
The scariest part is the $250,000 fine/2-year sentence to anyone who steals a flag from federal property and then destroys the flag.
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I would totally support a bill making trespassing, theft and vandalism a crime.
 
Yeah, an amendment that allows burning flags as a means of disposal, but prohibits burning a piece of cloth made in Taiwan
*if* it is done in a political protest, would look really consistent and rational up there next to the rest of the Constitution
:rolleyes:
 
phildonnia said:
I would totally support a bill making trespassing, theft and vandalism a crime.
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As the legal philosphers <s>Gilbert and Sullivan</s> Hammurabi once said, "Let the punishment fit the crime." Fining someone a quarter of a million dollars for destroying a $15 piece of property is rather out of proportion.
 
KelvinG said:
If the USA passes a law against flag burning I will stand on the the Canadian side of the border and burn an American flag while people who cross through customs can watch.

Similarly, if Canada passes a law against burning our flag I will expect one of my American friends to do likewise.
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Deal. Meet you at the peace arch.
 
Cain said:
I'm not sure how any minimally sane, non-retarded person could earnestly support this amendment.
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In my view, it is exactly this kind of straight-jacketed thinking that has caused an increasing number of people to move away from both major political parties.

Not one good reason in the entire essay.

King of the Americas
...but isn't a burning flag, one that has already been desecrated???

I mean, isn't it military tradition that flags that have touched the ground, be burned?
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It is this very issue that causes Constitutional problems. AFAIK, there is no law which bans burning an American flag; such a law quite possibly would pass Constitutional muster. What are
unconstitutional are laws which outlaw not the burning, but the intent behind it. Conservatives burning flags: legal. Liberals burning flags: illegal. It should not be hard to understand why such blatant discrimination is unconstitutional.

And did anyone see that Fourth of July celebration with the American-like flags (stars and stripes on a white background)? At the end of thee number, they rested the flags on the ground. That struck me as odd.

Kelvin
KelvinG If the USA passes a law against flag burning I will stand on the the Canadian side of the border and burn an American flag while people who cross through customs can watch.
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I think that a better response would be to burn a flag with thirteen stripes, and 50 stars arranged in a swastika. The police would have two options: let me get away with it, or else arrest me. And if they arrest me, then they would have to claim that this is the American flag!
 
Art Vandelay said:
Not one good reason in the entire essay.
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Nope. Looking to Dianne Feinstein for support is kinda laughable from the perspective of either party.
 
The forgotten thing is that people who leave their flags say, next to the road on the driveway where years of wind, sand, snow etc have battered the flags worn, ripped and faded, are actually WORSE than burning a flag.

Because at least the people who take a stand to burn it, are not letting the flag go in vain.

So, will the people who forgot their flag in certain location be punished?
 
daenku32 said:
The forgotten thing is that people who leave their flags say, next to the road on the driveway where years of wind, sand, snow etc have battered the flags worn, ripped and faded, are actually WORSE than burning a flag.

Because at least the people who take a stand to burn it, are not letting the flag go in vain.

So, will the people who forgot their flag in certain location be punished?
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I disagree with you. Sure the folks you talk about are demonstrating indifference, apathy but those who burn it are showing disdain, malice. "Not letting it go in vain"? Personally I would take the indifference.
 
BTW, John McCain, that darling of the left, co-sponsered one of these amendments. I really don't see where this idea came from that he's a "moderate" Republican.
 
Just pass a law that all american flags (including imports) must be made from flame-retardent material.

Charlie (I hate stealing from Ronald Raygun) Monoxide
 
Ladewig said:
The good news is that many protestors will not be prosecuted because the law applies only to people "who destroy or damage a flag of the United States with the primary purpose and intent to incite or produce imminent violence or a breach of the peace."
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Hell, I'm not a lawyer and even I recognize a loophole big enough to drive an aircraft carrier through sideways. "Your honor, my client wasn't trying to start a riot. His primary purpose was simply to make a political statement. That statement was 'I hate America'. Yes, a riot ensued, but that was not his primary purpose."

I hate flag-burning and I've had one waving in front of my house since September, 2001 (okay, two different ones), but I hatehatehate the idea that I could be prosecuted for expressing a political opinion. And if burning a flag isn't expressing a political opinion, then I'd love to know what it is.
 
Part of the stupidity of the measure lies in that when it is not being discussed, virtually no one burns a flag, but if the amendment came close to passing, many people would burn flags.
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Therefore the best way to protect flags from being burned is to pass legislation requiring every citizen to burn a flag each year. Possibly on April 15.
 
An all-time favorite political cartoon was from Bush I's presidency. It showed GHWB as a firefighter carrying an impressive fire hose. He's standing in a downtown area of a city in flames. Buildings are marked with various american institutions like "Education" "Economy" and so forth. One called "Justice" is nearly pitted.

In the foreground, Bush has just drenched a guy trying to light a flag.

To supporters of the amendment... I would ask, how many flag-burnings do we have each year? Is it worth changing the constitution over?

Do our legislators have the time to waste on this?

Of course, it's not a waste to them, it gets them re-elected.
 
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