I was angry to find out that the so-called "flag protection" amendment failed by just one vote, and angrier still to discover that one of my two California senators found it necessary to declare herself "the main Democratic sponsor of this amendment" and waste whatever time it took to write a lengthy, defensive statement that promises still more "hearings, debate and legislation" on the issue, as if Congress had no more pressing scourge to consider in this dark era.
Senator Feinstein, let's leave aside the fact that you've played into a cheap Republican election-year ploy, or that flag desecration in 2006 is perhaps the prime example of a solution seeking a problem. True, the amendment says nothing specific about "burning". But however nebulous its language, it remains quite simply an attempt by Congress to regulate and punish not speech, but thought itself.
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