I take a backseat to no one when it comes to love and respect for the flag of the United States of America.

The single most inspiring sight in my life was the shot of that huge flag being erected over the still smoking ruins of the World Trade Center. It was a supercharged Iwo Jima, as electrifying a patriotic moment as perhaps Francis Scott Keye’s relief and pride at seeing the flag flying over Fort McHenry. When grown men can cry like a baby at the sight of a piece of cloth fluttering in the smoky, windswept wound that was ground zero, something more is at play in the human heart than simple love of country. There is faith. A faith as deep as any religious belief in what that flag represents.

A little bit of that flag was torn up today. The Congress decided that the United States government will be able to tell you what kind of political speech is acceptable:

The House of Representatives approved, for the fifth time, a constitutional amendment to ban the desecration of the U.S. flag, setting the stage for a close vote in the Senate, which has previously rejected the measure.

The House approved the proposal by 286-130, more than the two- thirds necessary to pass constitutional amendments.

The amendment allows Congress to pass laws prohibiting destruction of the flag as part of protests. A constitutional amendment is necessary because the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1990 that laws forbidding flag desecration violate the free speech protections of the First Amendment.

Yes people who burn the flag are lowlife scum not worthy to clean the boots of the lowliest private in the United States army. Yes they should be shunned by society for the cowardly wretches they are. Yes there is a special place in hell for people who burn the symbol of the country that gives them the freedom to desecrate the memories of all those who gave their lives in defense of that flag and whose widows and orphans feel a special, searing pain when that emblem of freedom becomes fodder for their sick political hate speech.

But arrest them? For what? For what they’re thinking, that’s what. If we were to start arresting people for stupidity the flag burners would have an awful lot of company.

What it boils down to is this. Free speech must be virtually absolute. If it isn’t, it’s not free speech. Once the government starts deciding what’s acceptable political speech there’s no turning back. In order to regulate speech at all, there must be some compelling reason – child porn or shouting “fire” in a crowded theater are two examples – otherwise, we’re not free.

It’s that simple.

Besides, it’s crazy to muck around with the Constitution. It’s been amended 17 times in 216 years since the Bill of Rights (the first 10 amendments) were ratified in 1791. To modify that document to prevent one form of political expression is just asking for trouble. Who is to say that the amendment couldn’t be used to justify outlawing another form of political expression, one that you and I might agree with but a majority of the country finds distasteful?

The fact is I don’t trust the government to regulate political speech. They’re trying to do it with blogs and I don’t like it. It’s insidious. It’s dangerous. And it’s wrong.

The people who desecrate the flag by burning it are not worth defending. But what the flag stands for is. That’s why I sincerely hope that cooler heads prevail in the Senate and this amendment is consigned to the trash bin where it belongs.

UPDATE

Here’s a roundup of some reaction. I was surprised and pleased that so many conservative bloggers are opposed to the amendment. What’s kind of funny is that many believe they’re the only rightwingers who think that way. Also noticed: Those on the right feel compelled to to state at the outset (as I did) that they love the flag and are not defending the scumbags who burn it. Predictably, those on the left don’t bother to do anything but bash Republicans although it’s worth pointing out that the 77 Democrats who voted for the amendment are the ones who put it over the 2/3 majority necessary for passage.

The only decent defense of the amendment I found comes via The Corner

The good thing about being a conservative is that we don’t have to dream about some of the laws we would like enacted. As it turns out we wrote a flag protection act in 1968. We enforced it, and the States did the same until it was struck down. The period until the late ‘80s when it was struck down were not dark days for free speech nor did red white and blue paper napkins and ties go the way of the hoop skirt. Burning the flag was seen as an invitation to a fight and it was reasonably prohibited.

The Supreme Court in the past has indeed restricted speech as it relates to “fighting words” – words that by themselves would cause violence. But it has consistently held that symbols like the swastika and even the hoods worn by Klansmen are protected speech.

From Corante: “How to Ensure More American Flags Are Burned”

How many reported flag burnings were there last year in the US according to an anti-flag burning group that tracks such things? One. The idiocy of those fostering this unpatriotic amendment is staggering.

Slobokan: “You can’t Legislate Respect”

While I agree that burning the U.S. flag is disrespectful to America, I also think that it’s impossible to legislate respect. We do not need laws on the books what tell us what to think, when to think, and how to think it.

The Anchoress:

Burning the flag is stupid. It is moronic. It is infantile. It is the sort of thing they do in places where America is hated. Some might say you can “love” America and still burn the flag in protest, but I have met a few flag-burners in my day and I never knew a one of them that wasn’t all about simply being a part of something “happening” and provocative. And a few of them regret it, now, all these years later.

Nevertheless, I cannot support this amendment. I think it too is stupid. And moronic. It is the sort of suppressive and insecure thing they do in places where – ironically – America is being asked to bring freedom. Places like Cuba, fer instance.