The Senate Tuesday (June 27) narrowly rejected a proposed constitutional amendment that would ban desecrating the American flag. By a single vote, the Senate failed to achieve the two-thirds majority needed to pass the measure, which is the latest in a string of controversial election-year votes crafted by Republican leaders. Senators opposing the amendment have crafted an alternative proposal that would ban flag desecration by law instead of by amendment. Had the measure passed, it would have would have rolled back a 1989 Supreme Court decision protecting flag burning under the First Amendment.
Here’s what the people are saying:
“It’s clear that the action in and of itself isn’t wrong, simply because we burn our flags in another context all of the time (when a flag is worn down or touches the ground). Obviously then it’s the sentiment behind burning a flag that Congress attempted to ban, and if you ban the sentiment of individuals protesting you’re taking away cornerstone rights of American citizens.” — theredmantis.blogspot.com
Also Read
Compact Discs: Sound of the Future
“You can’t protest outside an abortion clinic without being prosecuted and bankrupted. You can’t say a prayer or read a bible in government school. You are forced to take man hating feminist propaganda courses on many colleges. You can’t pay for political advertisements 60 days before an election. Don’t tell me we cannot or should not make it a felony to burn the flag. They can still do it but they will have to pay the penalty.” — RA, outsidethebeltway.com
“[L]ast I checked, there is no plague of flag burning overtaking the country. But even if there was that plague, there still are no words to describe the irresponsibility and negligence of the cynical, soulless politicians who would allow such a debate to even take place when these life-and-death realities are unnecessarily unfolding before our eyes, realities that these politicians have the power to stop.” — dailykos.com
“It pisses me the hell off to think of someone burning the flag. That flag is the pretty looking symbol of the nation I fight for. I swore my allegiance to this country in front of the flag, I serve beside it, and should I die, I will be buried underneath it. However, I support 100 percent the right of someone to express themselves by burning it.” — grodron.livejournal.com
Talk: Should flag burning be banned? COMMENT
On the Web: senate.gov
