In 1989 in was in the 8th grade. In English class, we were debating the flag burning issue, and even back then we were sharply divided between those who wanted to ban flag burning for moral and patriotic reasons (such as myself), and those who wanted to protect it as a form of free speech and right to protest.
At the time, I was all but a card-carrying member of the Young Republicans, feeling strongly that Regean had protected us from nuclear demise and that George H. W. Bush would continue to do the same.
I felt strongly that people who burned the American flag were intruding on sacred territory, crossing a line that figuratively spat in the faces of military veterans like my grandfather (who was a POW in WWII). As a result, I felt that people should not be permitted to burn the American flag, period.
Before the year was out, I changed my mind. Here's how...
One of my classmates, during a debate of the issue, raised what I thought was an interesting point, one that I hadn't previously considered.
He asked me a question that went something like this: what would you do if people you did not respect were to gain control of our government and use that power to do things you found just as repugnant or worse than burning the American flag?
I would be furious (and am).
He continued: would you not want to reserve the right, which you are free to categorize as a "last resort" if you wish, to burn the American flag in their faces in order to make a point; in order to demonstrate what you feel THEY were doing to what the flag stands for; in order to protest what they were doing in your name, with your tax dollars and on behalf of your grandfather's legacy?
I tell you, it got me thinking.
I came to realize that, although I would probably never resort to burning an American flag (I'd prefer to tar and feather someone, personally), I wouldn't exactly be as free as I thought I was if the government were taking away my "last resort" of free speech and protest.
In other words, in a free society it's MY decision not to burn the American flag, not the government's. I may not like the thought of doing it, but I DO like that I'm free to decide for myself.
THAT is freedom.
I realized that my classmates on the other side of the argument were't at all fighting to "burn American flags," rather they were fighting for the FREEDOM to make that decision for themselves.
That said, I very much want to ask Hillary: "What the hell are you thinking? How, as a Democrat, can you vote against FREEDOM, for God's sake?"
Since I'll probably never get to ask her that question in person, I'm left to conclude (as is usually the case with her and her kind) that it's just political positioning, plain and simple.
I don't think she finds the American flag to be sacred, but I think she thinks she can cajole votes out of Republicans by extending them an olive branch on a issue she knows is going nowhere anyway. Yeah, THAT's courageous, lady. That's going to win people over. Thanks alot for the leadership. Really.
So today I offer this up to Hillary: don't fuck with my right to decide for myself whether or not I'm going to burn the American flag in protest. I'm not, but that's MY decision. Not yours or anyone else's. Certainly not the government's.
And if by some stretch of the imagination you actually succeed in making it against the law for me to choose to burn an American flag, or any other icon, I'm going to show up outside your office and burn an American flag that has only 42 stars; or maybe 14 stripes; or is maybe green, orange and yellow but otherwise looks exactly like the American flag.
So knock it off and stand up for protecting our freedom already. Our freedom to choose NOT to burn the flag, if we so desire.