George,

I find it absolutely sickening that Congress is even considering, let alone likely to pass, a Constitutional amendment to ban flag-burning. This country has a long history of openly violating the constitution by "re-interpreting" it, but the proposed amenment is apparently an attempt to make one such infringement upon our centuries-old liberties permanent. Censorship of any kind always has been and always will be an act of cowardice, demonstrating that the censors are so afraid of the subjects of the censorship that they will not even permit them to express themselves peacefully.

The suggestion that flag-burning is "offensive" as a justification for its banning seems to open the door to a downright Orwellian interpretation of the "freedom" of speech. If that which is sufficiently offensive to the people in power can be banned, what is to stop the government from banning all display of any sentiment critical of the established order of things? I don't care how offended people are by flag burning; if they don't like it they don't have to watch it. As for the "hate speech" which the government has apparently already seized the power to ban, given the choice, I would much rather live in a country where some impotent morons like the KKK burned crosses in public every day and know that my right to free expression was safe than live with the reasonable suspicion that the government might one day decide that citizens no longer had the right to protest.

The flag was originally created as the symbol of a country founded on high ideals which I have great respect for, but it is the flag of the United States, and the only U.S. it can represent in the present is the present state of the U.S., which is a state rapidly regressing towards fascism. The flag-burning amendment, if enacted, will be one more reason for people to burn the flag of this country of cowardice.

Brendan Ferreri-Hanberry (electronic mail, June 26, 2005)