On the First Amendment

Freedom is an uncomfortable privilege. To be sure of this, one only need know how the U.S. Senate only failed by one vote this Tuesday to Constitutionally ban the burning of the United States flag. While some would call it uncomfortable because the measure failed, others would say that it is because freedom itself hangs on the balance. It is a freedom of speech, of expression, that deserves serious consideration especially when politicians urge us citizens to honor the sacrifice of our fighting forces in Iraq and in Afghanistan. It is for the freedom of speech and of expression for which they fight: to win it for others on foreign soil and to defend what past fighters have achieved for us. How then shall we dishonor them in this manner by discarding the very freedom for which they have vowed to even die? Some say that if Congress can legislate protection for currency, then it can legislate protection for our own flag, but this is a red herring. Congress should legislate what it must to protect and defend order and stability to maintain a perpetual safeguard from imminent threat. One such safeguard is protecting currency. Where freedom does not imminently threaten order and stability, no such safeguard is needed. Demonstrations may be utterly distasteful. However, we the people must be ware; for, it is far more threatening and therefore more offensive to needlessly forego freedoms than to forego the distasteful.