Burning the Flag
Apparently they're trying to pass an amendment outlawing flag burning. Here's a link to a CNN article about it.
What do y'all think? I'm personally somewhat torn on this issue. I think there are two good reasons to keep flag burning legal. First, I think that any reasonable concession to free expression should be made; insofar as it's not physically harming anyone, I think flag burning fits. Of course, Homer Simpson said it best when he said "Nothin' burns like an effigy!"
Second, I think it gives us leverage. In thirty years, when I'm running for president with Harley as my vice president (mainly to get the Southern vote), Sipidation as my nominee for Secretary of State, Manda as my Secretary of Sexy, an elderly Bane as my Secretary of Offense, Lycan as my Secretary of Health and Human Services (mainly on account of his copious experience at avoiding VD), and Billy D as my Attorney General, I'll be running against some Democratic goon who will have protested the Iraq War (and, knowing the kind of lunatics the Democratic party nominates these days, Afghanistan too) by burning the American flag. I want to be able to say:
As far as I'm concerned, the continued legal right to burn the flag without fear of retribution does not only give political capital to true patriots like me, who see flag burning as outrageous and treasonous; it also allows law enforcement officials to know who some of the most unsavory idiots are, so that they can be given their due scrutiny (if appropriate).
Post it up, tell me what you think.
What do y'all think? I'm personally somewhat torn on this issue. I think there are two good reasons to keep flag burning legal. First, I think that any reasonable concession to free expression should be made; insofar as it's not physically harming anyone, I think flag burning fits. Of course, Homer Simpson said it best when he said "Nothin' burns like an effigy!"
Second, I think it gives us leverage. In thirty years, when I'm running for president with Harley as my vice president (mainly to get the Southern vote), Sipidation as my nominee for Secretary of State, Manda as my Secretary of Sexy, an elderly Bane as my Secretary of Offense, Lycan as my Secretary of Health and Human Services (mainly on account of his copious experience at avoiding VD), and Billy D as my Attorney General, I'll be running against some Democratic goon who will have protested the Iraq War (and, knowing the kind of lunatics the Democratic party nominates these days, Afghanistan too) by burning the American flag. I want to be able to say:
"My opponent had so little faith in America as a college student that she burned American flags on several occasions. My fellow Americans, even when I disagreed with the policies of the federal government, not once did I express that disapproval by desecrating our most hallowed symbols. I ask you, my fellow Americans, and Mexicans voting illegally thanks to former Senator Kerry's 'No Nicaraguan Gardener Left Behind' act: do you want a president who is such a fairweather patriot? A president who at one time hated this nation so much that she burned a flag that my fellow veterans fought and died for? Or do you want a president whose love of and service to this great nation has endured in good times and bad, in times of war and in times of peace, under Republican, Democrat, and even the short-lived presidency of Kang and Kodos?
As far as I'm concerned, the continued legal right to burn the flag without fear of retribution does not only give political capital to true patriots like me, who see flag burning as outrageous and treasonous; it also allows law enforcement officials to know who some of the most unsavory idiots are, so that they can be given their due scrutiny (if appropriate).
Post it up, tell me what you think.
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