www.lanestartin.org
Nevada 1st
District – 2002
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Response to the American Legion/Citizens Flag Alliance on the “Flag Protection Constitutional Amendment”
8 November 2001
Background: the Citizens Flag Alliance supports the
following proposed constitutional amendment: “The Congress shall have power to prohibit
the physical desecration of the flag of the United States.” This is in response
to the 1989 Supreme Court decision Texas v. Johnson, which upheld flag
burning as a form of free speech.
Original
e-mail (.txt format)
Original
questionnaire and responses (.doc format)
Question
1: Do you believe burning the American flag is speech as defined by the First
Amendment?
Question
2: Do you believe elected officials have an obligation to correct the mistakes
of the court?
Question 3: Do you believe the people should have the right to protect
their flag if they so chose?
Lane’s Answer: YES
Question 4: If elected to the 108th Congress, will you cosponsor
the flag-protection amendment?
Lane’s
Answer: NO
Question 5: If
elected to the 108th Congress, will you vote for the flag-protection
amendment quoted above?
Lane’s Answer: NO
Question 6: Would you like the
CFA to send you more information on the Flag- Protection Amendment?
Additional
comments:
Mark
C. Seavey, Assistant Director
National
Legislative Commission
The
American Legion
1608
K Street NW
Washington,
DC 20006-2847
8
November 2001
Dear
Mr. Seavey:
Thank
you for your recent e-mail requesting my views on the Flag Protection
Constitutional Amendment. My responses to your questions are enclosed.
As
an amateur vexillologist I am quite interested in the history, customs and
appropriate usage of the United States flag and others around the world. I
personally believe flag burning as a form of political speech, whether it be
the national flag of the United States or someone else’s, is a stupid and
wholly ineffective way to get one’s point across, quite often having the
opposite effect than the one intended. There’s no doubt in my mind that the
vast majority of Americans oppose such practices, and rightfully so.
However,
I also firmly believe in America we have the right to be stupid and
ineffective. Propaganda aside, a constitutional amendment prohibiting flag
burning simply runs counter to the traditions of free speech – no matter how
unpopular that speech may be – we have upheld for over 225 years. In addition,
no civic purpose is served in implementing the purposely long, tough process of
creating a constitutional amendment in order to single out a tiny minority of
malcontents, which is essentially what is proposed here. Let the fringe speak
for itself, as a truly strong democracy has nothing to fear from it.
As
a member of Congress I would have a sworn duty to uphold the Constitution of
the United States, which among other things means it’s not my place to go
around persecuting people we don’t like even though they are, well, stupid and
ineffective. Because of that, I cannot support your proposed constitutional
amendment as written.
I
notice your web site at www.cfa-inc.org
details several flag burning instances that are obvious acts of vandalism
against the property of others. These are instances where enforcing local
statutes covering vandalism and property destruction are quite appropriate.
This is why I answered yes to your question, “Do you believe the people should
have the right to protect their flag if they so chose?” They do now, and
there’s no reason for us to change that one way or the other, especially not at
the federal level.
These
comments, as well as your original questionnaire with my responses, will be
posted to my campaign web site at www.lanestartin.org for the public’s
information.
I
hope your questions have been answered on this matter. If you would like any
further information please don’t hesitate to contact me.
With
best regards,
W.
Lane Startin
2002
candidate for US House of Representatives, Nevada 1st District
Green
Party
Authorized by the Lane Startin for Congress Committee, Amber J.
Schneiter, Treasurer
PO Box 33761
Las Vegas, NV 89133-3761
(702) 658-2789
Last update: 8 November 2001