The Soapbox: Rants and Commentary: Amendment to the First Composed by Mike O'Leary (oleary@pegasus.montclair.edu) You would think a potential amendment to the Constitution very close to passage would get a little more media attention, but it hasn't. So just in case you have not heard: We are VERY close to passing a flag-burning amendment that would make this act a crime. This all started when the Supreme Court ruled that flag-burning fell under first amendement protection. Having no recourse, anti-flag- burning politicians set up this amendment. With little fanfare, it passed the House and moved on the Senate. From there it will go the states, where 49 of the 50 states have already said they would pass the amendment. Can we stop this? It may be too late, but I will say why we should stop this. The whole purpose of freedom of speech is so that people can say what they want even if that offends the majority of people out there. It is safe to say that flag-burning is both a protest and that it offends a majority of people. If our speech was limited to the non-offensive, then you might as well give up on political protest as we know it. All those out there rallying for this amendment can stop picking on Clinton or Gingrich, because that is bound to offend someone. Remember these facts: 1) The flag is a symbol. It is not an entity unto itself. Symbols have been used forever to suggest that you are for or against certain organizations, policies, etc. 2) No one ever died for the flag. Millions of men died creating and defending this great country. No one died protecting a piece of reproducable cloth. 3) It may not stop here. I am not saying that if we pass this amend- ment, other liberties will be limited to protect the majority; but that's not a path I want to take. 4) Even if we later decide to repeal this amendment, it will forever scar the Constitution. It still lists blacks as three-fifths of a person, reminding us of a much different time. Write to your Senators (they can be found on the Internet) and let them know we don't want to burn the Constitution to save the flag. Back To Rants and Commentary

This document was created using FlexED