Is this desecration?
Well, whoopee.
All of the four major candidates for U.S. Senate have gone on record in support of a constitutional amendment protecting the flag from "desecration." And just in time for the Fourth of July holiday, too.
For those who missed it, the Senate narrowly rejected just such an amendment last month. Senators actually voted 66-34 in favor of sending the amendment to state legislatures for ratification, but that was one vote short of the two-thirds majority needed.
The candidates for one of Tennessee's Senate seats - Republicans Ed Bryant, Bob Corker and Van Hilleary and Democrat Harold Ford Jr. - were all quick to say they would have voted in favor of the amendment, if given the chance. That's too bad. This would have been a great opportunity for any one of them to set himself apart from the rest by recognizing why our flag is really important.
Our flag is powerful not because of what it is, but what it symbolizes. It stands for all the freedoms that Americans have fought and died for over the years.
And yes, those freedoms include freedom of speech and freedom of expression. Those freedoms give people the right to say and do some things that others find disagreeable, or even repugnant. But restricting those freedoms does far more damage to the flag than any flag-burning protestors ever could.
Maybe the four candidates think that's a position too subtle for most voters to understand. After all, it's a lot easier to wrap oneself in the flag than it is to really celebrate the ideals it represents.
Happy Independence Day.
Posted by Blake Fontenay at 01:54 PM | Comments (1)
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