Ann Althouse takes a dismissive attitude towards an amendment to prevent burning the flag.
June 27th, 2006
Plenty of folks over at Ann Althouse’s blog are contemptuous of the effort to pass a constitutional amendment protecting the American flag.
As I pointed out in a comment on her post:
There are already many interpreted exceptions to the First Amendment:
Commercial speech is not fully protected.
Fighting words.
Libel.
Campaign spending.
And “hate” speech.
Personally, cialis sales cialis I think many of those judicially-created exceptions should be tossed in the trash.
On the other hand, physician I have no problem with amending the Constitution to create a specific textual protection for our national symbol.
Protecting the flag will not suddenly invalidate the First Amendment. In fact, it will have much less an impact than all the exceptions I already noted. (Exceptions that are paradoxically loved by the Left – the self-appointed guardians of “free” speech.)
Do I feel the need for this amendment?
No.
But I don’t think it harms free speech.
And I appreciate that some people still recognize that amending the Constitution is the proper way to change the meaning and implications of the law, instead of just lobbying the judiciary to get them to reinterpret the document for you.
Entry Filed under: Observations,Politics
3 Comments Add your own
1. The World According to Ni&hellip | June 27th, 2006 at 12:05 pm
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2. tee bee | June 27th, 2006 at 11:29 pm
Considering the problems we have that Congress should be addressing, it’s practically a slap in the face for this to be such a high-profile issue. It’s grandstanding in an election year, and it stinks.
3. Administrator | June 28th, 2006 at 8:07 am
See? That’s the difference between a liberal or a conservative and a libertarian.
As an old-time libertarian, I WANT Congress to waste their time with stupid, meaningless crap, because that means they aren’t spending their time wasting my money.
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