Anti-Flag Burning Amendment Defeated in Senate
The 66-34 vote fell one vote short of the two-thirds majority of 67 needed to approve the amendment and send it to the states for ratification and inclusion in the Constitution. While the Flag Desecration Amendment has been approved by the House of Representatives in every term of Congress since 1995, it has never passed in the Senate.
An alternative measure submitted by Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-New York), proposing to ban flag desecration by law, rather than the Constitution failed by a vote of 64-36.
Anti-flag burning laws enacted in 1968 at the height of the Vietnam War protests were struck down by the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1989 case of Texas v. Johnson, and again in the 1990 case of U.S. v. Eichman. In both cases, the Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that anti-flag burning laws represented unconstitutional restrictions of public expression as protected by the First Amendment.
Also See:
Flag Desecration Amendment Rejected: Thank God! (Liberal Politics)
The U.S. Flag Code
History of Flag Burning Laws
Amending the Constitution
Comments
Would you rather hit your thumb with a hammer or throw up on a bus? Would you rather feel good or look good? Is it better to show patriotism by symbols or demonstrate patriotism by action?
James Cash Penny said it best in his speech about pen tops. A pocket pen was a sign of prestige in India. The pen denoted a person of learning, a person of means. But pens were expensive. A pen top, properly displayed would serve the symbolic purpose. Pen manufacturers made more pen tops than pens. People could show their wealth by wearing the pen top in their pockets as a badge of arrival.
Without the pen, the pen top was only a symbol. It had no other meaning. The pen top could not write. The pen top could not complete its purpose or protecting a pen.
Aesop also mentioned the power of persuasion in his story of the North Wind, the Sun and the Traveler. North Wind bet the Sun that he could get the Traveler to remove his coat. The harder the North Wind blew, the tighter the traveler held his coat. When he took his turn, the Sun beamed brightly. The Traveller removed his coat.
Even so, if the flag is to be honored, it is not by force, but by deeds.
What have you done today to make yourself proud or our flag?