June 23, 2005

Leave It Alone

I've been following the vote currently in the Senate to ammend the 1st Ammendment. The changes would prohibit the desecration of the American flag.

It's gonna be a close vote. I do wish they'd just leave it alone.

I consider myself a patriot. I love this country. My heart swells at the sight of our flag flying in the wind. I hate the thought of anyone burning, tearing, or other wise disrespecting that symbol of our nation.

BUT, this ammendment to the ammendment will come back to bite us. It can't help but. WHO will decide what is disrespectful? Who will police this?

Look at what happened at the SuperBowl last year when Kid Rock wore a flag as a poncho. Some were outraged, while others thought - hey it's just a poncho, bad taste but no big deal, no disrespect intended. So who is right?

The greatest benefit of living in the country is our freedom. Our freedom of choice, our freedom of religion, our freedom of speech. We can Speak Out Against Our Government and NOT be punished. That is precious. If we pass this change we are taking a bit of that freedom away.

I would rather allow those the freedom to disagree with me. Allow them to speak out. And allow ME to push back.

As Smash reminds us - the flag is a symbol, and replacable. The freedom is a gift.

I HATE the thought of someone disrespecting our flag, and I will NOT stand by without expressing my outrage. But I hate even more the thought of disrespecting the freedoms that our constitution allows.

Posted by Tammi at June 23, 2005 05:26 AM
Comments

Seems to me you think high maintenence is a bad thing. I would say it's ok to be high maintenence if your worth it. And besides if you think about it as a person ages so dose the cost of maintenence and repair, boy don't I know it hehe.

Posted by: davidholtz at June 23, 2005 05:38 AM

Like you I get very upset with people who disrespect the flag; I don't think it should be worn as a dang poncho or on the seat of one's pants. It should be treated with all the respect our national symbol deserves -and then some.

That said, this amendment makes me deeply, completely uncomfortable. Like a really bad idea decided on at 2:00am. :/

Posted by: pam at June 23, 2005 07:02 AM

I just did a post recently for Flag Day on the "rules" of our flag.

I didn't know that this was going on...I need to look more into it.

Posted by: Sissy at June 23, 2005 07:02 AM

They need to leave that amendment alone. I foresee bad things happening if they touch that.

Posted by: Bou at June 23, 2005 07:36 AM

Like I stated back at my seedy dive, I hope every single America hating asshole out there burns a flag.

That way we know who they are. Identifying our enemies is a noble end for a flag.

Posted by: Graumagus at June 23, 2005 05:13 PM

Oh yeah, one small point I disagree with you on Tammi.

Freedom isn't a gift. It's a right. One worth
dying for.

One worth killing for.

Posted by: Graumagus at June 23, 2005 05:14 PM

You're right Grau....I worded that wrong. That's what I get for tryin' to write without 2 cups of coffee in my system. :-)

Posted by: Tammi at June 23, 2005 05:19 PM

I agree 100%. The Constitution is meant to ensure our rights, not take them away. Burning (or otherwise desecrating) the flag is a terrible thing, but we don't need to mess with the Constitution over this issue. If we do, what's next? The right to protest the government? Bad idea, period. Just think how much time and money our legislators are wasting on this. I hope it fails... again.

Posted by: Dash at June 24, 2005 09:08 AM