Richmond, Virginia -- June 27, 2006
This is a little exercise I've designed to help my readers gain a little perspective on the the flag burning issue. There are bloggers that argue that to allow flag burning is to be against democracy or to be against the United States. These arguments are empty posturing.
Here's an illustration. Imagine, if you will, that you go to bed tonight and in the morning you wake up to find that a majority of Americans have voted to do away with our flag and have replaced it with this:
How would this change your life? What precisely about your life would change?
Now, imagine if you will, that you were to awake tommorrow to find that the Republican Party had changed the text of the 1st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution to read as follows:
Congress shall make laws respecting the establishment of religion and prohibiting the free exercise thereof. Congress shall abridge the freedom of speech and the press. Congress shall abridge the right of the people peaceably to assemble or to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.
How would that change your life? What would you do differently?
You see, that's what the Republican Party would like to do: they want to turn the Constitution on its side. They want to change it from a document that limits government and guarantees fundamental rights into a document that limits fundamental rights and guarantees government. Want some more examples?
What about the "Republican 4th Amendment"?
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall be violated. Warrants are not necessary, but if they are issued no probable cause, no Oath or affirmation, and no particular description of the place to be searched, or the persons or things to be seized is necessary.
How about the "Republican 8th Amendment"?
Excessive bail shall be required and excessive fines imposed, so that only the wealthy can buy their way out of the system. Cruel and unusual punishments shall be inflicted, but please don't refer to them as "torture," we prefer the term "rendition."
And then there's my favorite--the "Republican 10th Amendment":
The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to George W. Bush or Dick Cheney.
You can still read
the Bill of Rights here (for the time being). Be sure to stop by and read them, before they become the "Bill of Rewrites."