The house has passed legislation making the burning of the U.S. Flag a crime.
Is the burning of a Koran a crime? It is in Saudi Arabia. It's probably punishable by death there. Is burning a Bible a crime? Not here. I have seen high school students rip the pages out of Bibles to roll marijuana cigarettes. Smoking the cigarette is a crime, but not ripping up the Bible to make it.
So we are asked to support elevating the U.S. flag to the level of a sacred object, more sacred than the Bible. We are expected to treat it with respect, and I do, but burning a flag is a very powerful political statement, and I can’t see what the public benefit is to prevent that statement from being made, other than I find flag burning offensive. But other than being offended, I am not harmed if someone burns a flag.
When I was young, the rallying cry of conservatives was "I may not agree with what my opponent is saying, but I would give my life for his right to say it." I could not conceive of burning a flag, but now the House is proposing to give more protection to the flag than to the Bible. Desecrating a flag cannot happen because the flag is not a sacred object. All that burning can do is offend patriotic Americans, like myself, BUT AMERICANS DO NOT NEED PROTECTION FROM BEING OFFENDED. We do demand protection of our right to free speech. We are going to need it to protect our country.
