June 15, 2005

Flag Desecration Amendment: BAD IDEA

Morality cannot exist without choice. One who is compelled to do good is a slave. As Aristotle argued, slaves cannot be citizens of a society because they are not autonomous and therefore not moral agents. The good society is the one which is given the choice between good and bad, yet chooses the good.

Utopian societies are evil because they force men to do what is seen as proper action. Communism compelled redistribution of wealth by murdering millions. Islamists compel proper religious duty through force of law and penalty of death.

What makes America the last best hope on Earth is that we compel so little of our proper action. As Dinesh D'Souza so forcefully argues in What's So Great About America:

The radical Islamists hate us not because they misunderstand us, but because they understand us all too well. They know that "America is a subversive idea" -- and that the spread of American ideals such as democracy, capitalism, and individual rights will undermine their efforts to establish theocracy. [source]
To pass an Amendment outlawing flag desecration is to take away a little of America's greatness. I am against any efforts to ban flag desecration. USA Today:
The Senate may be within one or two votes of passing a constitutional amendment to ban desecration of the U.S. flag, clearing the way for ratification by the states, a key opponent of the measure said Tuesday.
Being against a flag desecration amendment, though, does not mean I support desecrating the flag. I agree with Rob of Say Anything:
The flag is a symbol. A powerful and sentimental symbol, but ultimately a symbol none-the-less. If people feel the need to make statement by destroying that symbol, then so be it. Its a rather ludicrous statement because the symbol they’re destroying stands for the very freedom that allows them to destroy it in the first place. After all, such open dissent against the government would not be tolerated in a lot of places on the globe. But whatever, that’s their stupidity and not mine.
Having come out against a Constitutional Amendment outlawing flag desecration, let me just add that there may be certain contexts in which such desecration could give rise to acts of treason or violence. But it is the context in which the act is done, not the act itself, which should be the guiding principle in which the law should be invoked. Inciting to treason is what ought to be outlawed, therefore, and not 'flag desecration'.

By Rusty Shackleford, Ph.D. at 02:33 PM | |