Rants, Ramblings, and Randomness

Rants, Ramblings, and Randomness

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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in pythonspam's LiveJournal:

Saturday, April 26th, 2008

10:18 pm

The First Amendment
Last week, my father had his traditional bonfire (before the summer burn ban kicks in.)
The flames got 15 feet high and sparks flew to 125 feet before going out. It had rained early that morning and we were worried it would be too wet to burn, but the combination of the christmas tree and other small timber made it able to burn pretty fast actually...
Once it burnt down to mostly ashes, we roasted hot dogs on coat hangers and sat around talking.
I got to thinking about fires and their significance and my mind drifted to a few years in the past. I was brought back to a bonfire at one of a few scouting events where the scouts performed a ritual of reverence, respect, and duty. The ritual was a retiring/destruction of an aged and faded american flag. Per the US Flag Code (which is not law, by the way, just suggested treatment), retired flags are not to be thrown away, but to be destroyed in a manner such that no one comes across the symbol of our country dirtied and tattered in a dump somewhere. As an adult leader in the BSA, my father was entrusted with a few such flags because it was known that he was with the Scouts and could facilitate the proper care for the flag. One had been sitting in his closet for a few years because after I left for college, he was no longer active with our troop.
Seeing the fire burning, I remembered the flags and resolved to not let them gather (any more) dust on a shelf. I segmented the flag into 63 pieces (64 if you count the hoist halyard, from which the flag flies). Each stripe representing the 13 original states and each star representing the 50 current states was placed on the fire one by one, and after being torn asunder, were reunited and the ashes from all were indistinguishable and inseperable once again, forever joined.
This is a symbolic ceremony which I understand the need for and the significance of. I am a red-blooded American who believes in democracy (well, really the democratic republic) in which we live. I have the utmost respect for every American who has worn the uniform of our Armed Forces, those who have volunteered to serve, and anyone who has dedicated their lives for the good of the people. Whatever the current politial situation, I have faith that the American way of life will endure and that this country will always serve as a beacon for all those people who long for the freedoms granted to us.
Although the first amendment only explicitly grants the right to the freedom of speech (except for those words which, by their very nature, involve danger to the public peace and to the security of the state - the Clear and Present Danger argument and other exceptions), it has, through judicial means, been expanded to cover the freedom of all means of expression. Texas vs. Johnson (1989) was one to address flag-burning specifically, and in absence of the 'Breach of the Peace exclusion, was a lawful and protected expression under the First Amendment. One dissenting opinion of Supreme Court Justine Stevens stated, "It is a symbol of freedom, of equal opportunity, of religious tolerance, and of good will for other peoples who share our aspirations...The value of the flag as a symbol cannot be measured."
That flag must however stand for ALL OUR FREEDOMS, INCLUDING the freedom to Burn that flag as an expression when we feel it is necessary. The whole point of the Bill of Rights was to guarantee those rights bestowed upon the citizenry that which the constitution neglected.
Often, the flag is burned in protest of some policy or law or iniative (or election) in effect which the protester feels so strongly about that there is no other means to express. Flag-burning was a common occurance at protests against the Vietnam "conflict" and more recently against "Operation Iraqi Freedom" as the justification for invasion was proven to be under increasingly false pretenses.
States have tried passing flag-burning prohibitions before, but all have been struck down as unconstitutional. There has been an amendment to the U.S. Constitution specifically prohibiting the desecration (by burning or other means) of a flag in 'a way that the actor knows will seriously offend one or more persons likely to observe or discover his action'. Passage of such an amendment would impinge on our rights on Freedom of Thought, as it is the Intent of the flag-burner which determines whether he or she would be subject to punishment for the act. The current language of the amendment would only permit the US Congress (not individual states) of passing laws banning the act and as such violators would be brought before Federal Courts.

I love this country (most of the time) and for which it stands (don't get me started about One Nation Under God; Free Exercise of Religion is another right granted in the First Amendment).
However at some point you have to step back and ask, "Are these things being prohibited in the name of national security really worth that which is being taken away?"

Current Mood: pensive

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