“Restriction of free thought and free speech is the most dangerous of all subversions.”
Justice William O. Douglas
The hallowed chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives, where those men and women elected to serve the people once debated ways to enhance the rights of man, recently became a cheap forum for political grandstanding and the public self-promotion of many of its members.
In a fervor to capitalize on a perceived “motherhood and apple pie” issue, while not coincidentally pandering to a cornerstone of the conservative right’s political agenda, the House recently approved a constitutional amendment outlawing the desecration of the American flag. In this blatantly political gesture, timed to coincide with July’s Independence Day celebrations, our Congressional representatives sought to protect the nation from onslaught of some two or three malcontents who annually torch the flag as a form of protest against their country’s policies.
In the process, they launched a ominous assault on the most fundamental of American rights, that of free speech … a solemn liberty our flag is supposed to symbolize.
Never before have any seriously considered constitutional amendments sought to limit our basic, inalienable liberties. In the two hundred and six years since the ratification of the Constitution, all but five of its twenty-seven Amendments (the 16th’s imposition of an income tax, the 18th outlawing booze and 12th, 20th and 25th dealing with presidential and Congressional terms and succession) were enacted either to enhance and protect the rights of “we the people” or to limit the power of government.
The rhetoric of this amendment’s misguided proponents is predictable … the flag “carries great significance” … a failure to act “clearly reduces its (the flag’s) symbolic value” … and it is “an effort by mainstream America to reassert community standards.”
Absent is any attempt by these pompous and self-righteous politicians to preserve underlying principles on which our nation was founded. To the contrary, the flag’s symbolic value will be emasculated and one of the unique political values it has represented trashed if this cretin and myopic legislation ultimately becomes part of the constitution. As for reasserting community standards … no group, least of all Congress, has any legal or other mandate to act as America’s moral watchdog!
In typical beltway fashion, the amendment’s language; “The Congress and the States shall have the power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States.”, is both unreasonable and unenforceable. Amusingly, it would criminalize the “official” means for destroying a flag … burning it! Further, with the rampant commercialism in flag graphics and the ultimate disposition of the thousands of objects they adorn would present a formidable obstacle to any reasonable enforcement.
Yet, most alarming is the fact the 312 patriotic members of Congress who voted for this inane legislation have apparently lost touch with the central essence of the Constitution, in general, and the Bill of Rights, in particular!
Freedom of speech, including a wide range of symbolic speech, provides every individual the unfettered right to express his/her opinions without fear of reprisal or retribution (other than for such very limited restrictions as yelling, “fire”, in a crowded public theater). Concurrently, however, as with most rights, this precious liberty carries a solemn, frequently distasteful responsibility, obligating each person to respect the speech and opinions expressed by others … no matter how hostile or repugnant such ideas might be to their values and sensibilities.
Passage of this Amendment would represent a clear and present danger to the inalienable rights of every American. The members of Congress who have, or plan to support this irresponsible legislation would do better to spend a little time rereading the Constitution and its Amendments … reflecting on their historical antecedents and original intent; ultimately that of restraining the powers of government and maximizing the liberties of the governed.
The Senate now has the opportunity to correct the knee-jerk action of the House and abort this ill-conceived attempt to abridge fundamental liberties. If they fail to do so, it is not unreasonable to become concerned which of our rights Congress will take aim at next … again, in the name of protecting Americans from themselves.
One is left to wonder if F. Lee Bailey wasn’t right when he pondered, “Can any of you seriously say the Bill of Rights could get through Congress today? It wouldn’t even get out of committee.”
