This is in response to American Civil Liberties Union intern Phil Santer's editorial opposing the constitutional amendment that would "prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States ("Flag burning offensive, but making it illegal could easily backfire," SN 6/27).
In the 1984 U.S. Supreme Court 5-4 decision, making it legal to burn the flag, Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote the main dissenting opinion, "The American flag … throughout more than 200 years of our history, has come to be the visible symbol embodying our Nation. It does not represent the views of any particular political party, and it does not represent any particular political philosophy. The flag is not simply another 'idea' or 'point of view' competing for recognition in the marketplace of ideas."
Our flag symbolizes freedom, liberty, the rule of law and much more. And yes, it symbolizes mom, baseball and apple pie. Go ahead and listen to Eminem, burn the Yankees' pennant or throw pies against the wall. But if you burn the flag, you desecrate the symbol of everything we stand for. Does free speech know no bound?
Phil Santer gives the ACLU view that flag burning falls under the First Amendment right of free speech, a right considered essentially absolute. But it is not absolute. You cannot yell "fire" in a crowded theater. You cannot speak of assassinating the president. Not convinced the ACLU is for virtually unrestricted free speech? The ACLU's Web site says they have defended The North American Man-Boy Love Association, or NAMBLA. NAMBLA publishes literature telling men how to lure and have sex with pre-teen boys and then how to evade the law. Evidently rape how-to literature is okay with the ACLU. If you're not on the side of children, it's no surprise that the symbol of America is also secondary to boundless free speech.
It's interesting to note that in France if you just "insult" their flag or La Marseillaise you face jail time. Hong Kong, Australia, Austria, India and Germany have similar laws.
Phil says that a ban on flag burning will send us down a slippery slope, and we'll wake up one day with a dictatorial government. Like Baathist Iraq maybe? Extremely unlikely. Aren't the traditionalists that support the proposed amendment also supporting and fighting for free speech in Afghanistan and Iraq?
What's the most famous image of World War II, that great war against dictators? The next time you are in Washington, D.C., climb the Lincoln Memorial, walk past the spots where Martin Luther King, Jr. and Forrest Gump stood, pay your respects to Abe, then walk way around the back. Look across the Potomacto the Iwo Jima Memorial. Those six guys and their kind are not the enemies of freedom.
Richard Ivans
Academic Computing & Network Services staff member
