Every few years, some people get mad and burn the American flag and all heck breaks loose.
Currently, flags are being burned on a regular basis all over the country ever since Donald Trump beat Hillary Clinton in the race for the presidency, and people are responding in the usual dramatic fashion, with cries for new amendments to outlaw the act, threats of physical violence, and all sorts of hair-rending.
Our President-Elect, Donald Trump, had one of the most ridiculous (and unconstitutional) reactions. He took to Twitter to recommend that people who burn American flags be punished with jail time or a loss of citizenship.
Nobody should be allowed to burn the American flag – if they do, there must be consequences – perhaps loss of citizenship or year in jail!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) November 29, 2016
Clearly, he hasn’t always been against free speech. Here’s a tweet he fired off in 2013.
“If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.” – George Washington
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) February 15, 2013
Incidentally, flag burning is illegal and punishable in countries like Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and China. And we know how free they are.
And before you get all partisan on me, do keep in mind that in 2005, Hillary Clinton was one of the sponsors of a bipartisan bill to make the desecration of the flag illegal.
I support the right to burn the flag.
I think that burning the flag is abhorrent and childish, but I’ll support the right to do it forever.
Why?
Because constitutionally protected free speech isn’t just for things that we want to hear. Protesting isn’t only acceptable if the opinion is popular. We all get to speak our mind freely, to demonstrate without harming others, and to protest injustice as long as we aren’t trampling on the rights of others if we do so. The debate has been going on for decades, and the Supreme Court has upheld the lawfulness of this form of protest in both 1989 and 1990.
In a 2012 interview with CNN, the late Justice Scalia said:
“If I were king, I would not allow people to go around burning the American flag — however, we have a First Amendment which says that the right of free speech shall not be abridged — and it is addressed in particular to speech critical of the government. I mean that was the main kind of speech that tyrants would seek to suppress. Burning the flag is a form of expression — speech doesn’t just mean written words or oral words — burning a flag is a symbol that expresses an idea. ‘I hate the government, the government is unjust,’ or whatever.”
When is burning the flag wrong?
As long as the flag you’re burning is your own flag, well, I think you’re a douchebag, but blaze away. You’re within your rights.
The only time it’s legally wrong to burn a flag is when it’s someone else’s flag. Take a page from the libertarian playbook here. Murray Rothbard, economic scholar and the Academic Vice-President of the Mises Institute, made it simple.
Keeping our eye on property rights, the entire flag question is resolved easily and instantly. Everyone has the right to buy (or weave) and therefore own a piece of cloth in the shape and design of an American flag (or in any other design) and to do with it what he will: fly it, burn it, defile it, bury it, put it in the closet, wear it, etc. Flag laws are unjustifiable violations of the rights of private property. (Constitutionally, there are many clauses from which private property rights can be derived.)
On the other hand, no one has the right to come up and burn your flag, or someone else’s. That should be illegal, not because a flag is being burned, but because the arsonist is burning your property without your permission. He is violating your property rights.
Note the way in which the focus on property rights solves all recondite issues. (source)
Easy peasy.
Flag burners also need to keep in mind that for every action we take and every word we say, there are repercussions. Free speech doesn’t mean you can say or do something without regard to the consequences. It simply means that you’re protected from being imprisoned, criminally charged, or fined. If you are in a public position, be prepared for the fallout if this is the way you choose to protest.
Let me also point out, having raised children through toddlerhood and the teenage years, I can assure you that by freaking out because someone burned a flag, you’re giving them exactly what they want: attention. If it really bothers you, grit your teeth and walk away. Nothing takes the wind out of the sails of a good throw-down tantrum like being completely ignored.
The bottom line is this, and there is no middle ground.
I completely agree that everyone has the right to do as they wish with their own property. Inanimate objects, including flags, have no rights.
However, I’ll go even further and disagree that it’s wrong to burn the US flag. I have no particular desire to do that myself (unless it becomes illegal), but I don’t care if others feel so compelled.
Does it hurt some people’s feelings? Sure. To those people I say: harden the f–k up. By trying to outlaw expression that offends you, you’re no better than those leftists who want to outlaw “racist, sexist, homophobic hate speech” because it “triggers” them. Don’t be such sensitive pussies.
And what does that flag even stand for? Certainly not freedom, human rights, or any other noble ideals. It stands for the federal government and, since the Civil War, the FORCED association of the 50 states.
When I look at a crowd of so-called Americans pledging their allegiance to the US government’s cloth idol or standing for the National Anthem, I see a crowd of North Koreans venerating a giant mural of Kim Jong Fat Boy. It’s the same basic activity going on: worship of the State.
My allegiance is to my own principles, which include those expressed in the Bill of Rights. To me, the BoR goes well beyond law or any particular government. The BoR can be seen as a distillation of centuries of historical lessons about how government power should be limited. It could be improved upon by making it more explicit and detailed, but the fundamental principles are timeless.
“… you’re no better than those leftists who want to outlaw “racist, sexist, homophobic hate speech” because it “triggers” them.”
Unchallenged.
“Nothing takes the wind out of the sails of a good throw-down tantrum like being completely ignored.”
this advice should be used regularly in regard to our government
“It simply means that you’re protected from being imprisoned, criminally charged, or fined.”
Mere words are NOT crimes!
There should be jail time for anyone that burns the USA flag in the USA!
Burning the USA flag is not an issue of free speech it is a warlike act of aggression toward the USA and the freedom it represents. Only a communist or a fascist or a socialist would consider burning the USA flag.
If they don’t like this country then they should get out period.
Which flag are you talking about, David?
If it is the Title 4 USC 1 Free Flag of Peace that represents our people’s Bill of Rights and marks the jurisdiction for the common law that is supposed to fly in every civilian area in this country, that is a flag I respect. But I know that there can be no law against burning it, though I would wonder why anyone would want to.
If you are talking about these f#@king military flags, that are only supposed to be flown over military bases, on ships, and at embassies in other countries, I disagree. We are under martial law and the military flag is what I see as the free flag of peace has been taken down by those who have instituted the police state. And that military flag representing that police state I would piss on and grind under foot, and then burn, as it represents the removal of our common law, our Bill of Rights, and our common law courts.
I let you through because I don’t think you are bad, just ignorant. Look up the law of the flag, see the difference in the flag you believe you hold dear as a representation of freedom and the flag that has replaced it that declares military rule over our people. I believe it is Army Regulation 840-10 and Title 4 USC 1.
I guess the irony is these commies burning military flags and government national flags flying over areas that are supposed to be under the jurisdiction of the Title 4 USC 1 Free Flag of Peace don’t know the difference either, but I do.
Now, will you take the time to learn that you may actually understand what you are talking about?
http://www.barefootsworld.net/uscivilflag.html