Stop
Congress from Amending the Constitution to Limit Free Speech
Urge your Members of Congress to Oppose the Flag Desecration Amendment!

For more than a decade, numerous members of Congress have tried to amend — with
seemingly endless resources — the U.S. Constitution to give the government the
power to prohibit the physical desecration of the American flag. Civil libertarians
have fought back hard with coalitions of veterans, religious leaders and other Americans
who believe that such a constitutional amendment would undermine the very principles
for which the American flag stands.

*Sigh* How many more times with this monstrosity rear its ugly head? The American
flag – any flag for that matter – is just a symbol. Citizens of any free country
should have the right to protest what they see as disgraceful actions taken in their
name by their government, so long as doing so doesn’t not endanger others. A legal
expression of such a protest should be the “desecration” of a symbol of
that government/country, including its flag.

This should be especially true for the US. Our constitution, and the Supreme Court
interpretations thereof, guarantees the rights of free expression and to petition
the government with grievances. To ban flag-burning would violate both.

Perhaps flag-burning is a distasteful thing. I’d have to be pretty ticked off to
do it myself, but tastefulness should not guide legislation of constitutional law.
If it were, we might as well ban foul language, sandals worn with socks, reality
TV, and Hillary Clinton.