American Flag: The Right to Burn

Burning the American flag is positively constitutional. Not only is it a right guaranteed by the First Amendment, it is one of the very rights that the founders intended to preserve when creating the laws for this nation. America could not have been formed without the banning, burning and dumping of many symbols of the British Empire, such as the British flag. Had we not discarded the image of the British flag, the American flag would have never been created in the first place.

The United States government is designed to evolve with the changing times, be they timely and evolutionary or rapid and revolutionary. The rapid times often test the validity of a governmental structure. If citizens of a democracy lose their voice during a radical time in the nation or world, the democracy will fail. Often, the government, in desperation, will overlook the general opinion of the public. Flag burning is one way to reclaim their attention, to bring forth a serious realization that the people think that whatever the government is doing is wrong and/or unjustifiable.

Flag burning also offers a form of attention to the minority, as exemplified in the Johnson (Texas v. Johnson) case. Although Johnson was a Communist in the United States and therefore a minority, he still had every right guaranteed to him by the Constitution, regardless of his lack of confidence in the document.

Many war veterans claim serious offense to a burning American flag, because they have risked their lives for America. Their offense is certainly justified, and demonstrates how flag burning could be used as a tool of protest against a war. If war did not have protesters or if our government did not allow itself or its citizens to rally against a war, we would be in a constant state of war, therefore disgracing the flag to a greater degree by painting its red stripes with the blood of the people of our nation, innocent civilians and the population of the entire world. This blood would not be the blood that birthed our nation free of tyrannical rule, it would be the blood of the destruction of everything that we have created as a nation and as a world. Such a limit on our freedom is an absolute death sentence to all that live and swear by it.

To each American, flag burning is a personal issue. 79% of American voters believe that the American people should have the direct right to determine whether Americans have the right to desecrate their own flag. 69% of voters also believe that flag desecration is a "Total or Extremely Important" issue. 70% of both GOP members as well as 70% of Democrats believe that flag desecration is a "Total or Extremely Important"
issue.

Various opinions, some of which I would not hesitate to classify as propaganda, are spread throughout the world wide web. Major General Patrick H. Brady (US Army- Ret.), the Chairman of the Citizens Flag Alliance, has announced a youth scholarship contest, where students can win scholarship money by stating that the American flag should be saved from desecration. This is a clear attempt to bribe the impressionable minds of America into an opinion. Brady offers students money to state his own opinion which might not necessarily be the opinion of the children he is bribing! Brady is an example of a conservative who is attempting to limit our liberties. As a respected military officer, he is destroying the fabric of liberties which he has fought so diligently to protect.

In contrast, Cornell College theater professor Paul Sannerud wrote a controversial play entitled "How to Burn an American Flag." This play, instead of bribing American citizens with money, offers Americans the opportunity, on their own choice, to attend his play's performance and to judge his opinion. Sannerud does not bribe people to view his play or his opinions, and he successfully uses the theater, an American pastime, as a means to express his view appropriately.

Rage Against the Machine, an alternative music group, performed on Saturday Night Live and was censored. Not only was it censored for "inappropriate language" (although Saturday Night Live is obviously a show that is inappropriate for children and shown at a late hour), but for inappropriate usage of American flags. Rage decorated the stage with American flags- placed upside down- to demonstrate their "rage" against "the machine," or government. Although their views are extreme, Rage should not have been censored because they displayed the American flag upside down. Constitutionally, that is not a valid reason to censor American citizens.

In 1997, a Native American artist, Steven Leyba, displayed his work: Wounded Knee Decomposition I. This display included two desecrated American flags, commemorating the Battle of Wounded Knee (1890), which was not a battle, but a severe massacre directed to the Native Americans by the United States Government. In present day, over a hundred years after the massacre, the government still censored the artist for portraying the flags in such a manner, demonstrating the oppressive power that the government occasionally does exercise on the people that it is supposed to serve. This is not only a violation of Leyba's 1st Amendment right of freedom of expression (as declared by the Supreme Court in the Johnson case), but also a clearly oppressive and prejudiced act; a violation of Leyba's 14th Amendment rights! Leyba clearly and peacefully demonstrated that he remembered the struggles of his people, part of his own personal history. The artist wished to share his form of expression with the public, of all ages and races, who should not be hindered from hearing or seeing another American's opinion.

The American people, if offended, were not forced in any way to view the artwork. Still, Leyba was censored by the city officials until he was forced to move his work elsewhere.

Although flag burning, particularly in the Johnson case, may seem extreme, the instances as exemplified by the censoring of Rage Against the Machine and Steven Leyba clearly demonstrate that the barring of one American right can seep like a disease into many roots of the Constitution and our rights therein, destroying everything that the government created by the people and for the people is. If other citizens and the government continue to conservatively chip our rights away from the Constitution, and if we appease their hunger to do so, then we are part of the problem and part of our own downfall.

Sources:

-The Flag Burning Page: http://www.esquilax.com/flag/culture.html

-Citizens Flag Alliance: http://www.cfa-inc.org

The Supreme Court Case Texas v. Johnson