Triangulate around the flag

2 July 2006

I have decided to stop caring about the flag-burning amendment. Carving out this one little exception to American free-speech jurisprudence would be a stupid thing to do, but its practical effect on our ability to express ourselves would be infinitesimal. If the amendment is ever ratified and I’m sufficiently pissed off at the government, I can always burn the Great Seal of the United States or some such. And if some Democratic members of Congress need to curry favor with swing voters, I’d much rather see them do it by voting to restrict flag-burning rights than by voting to restrict abortion rights.

However, the next time this issue comes round on the guitar, I would encourage every non-Southern Democrat to propose a different form of the amendment: Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States, and the flying of the Confederate flag. You want a wedge issue, Mr. Rove? I’ll give you a wedge issue…

• Later: So close
• Earlier: ‫די שטערן-באַצירטע פאָהן‬