Feinstein the Flag Hag

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.  

Burn a flag to retire it from service, and you honor it.  Burn the same flag to protest government misdeeds, and you are guilty of a federal crime in the minds of some.  The question of intent is part and parcel of criminal law, certainly--but if we are to avoid an Orwellian existence, it cannot become the entirety of an offense.  

Your facile comparisons with the Lincoln monument and other such symbols fall short of persuasion. These irreplaceable historical artifacts are public property, whereas flags may be manufactured, owned, and disposed of by private citizens.  

They may, for instance, be plastered on truck windows to bleach in the sun and collect dead bugs, or affixed to antennae to be shredded by the elements, or otherwise exploited by self-proclaimed "patriots" to cloak their partisan support of an immoral and profoundly stupid war in a cheap veneer of rectitude, while soldiers like my brother risk life and limb in some distant desert.  

Perhaps this is the sort of flag desecration you had in mind?  

No matter.  The value of the symbol resides in the people, institutions and deeds it represents, not in the nylon or polyester thread from which most flags are now made.  For many of us, the flag's meaning could well be summarized thus: "You have the freedom to burn me."  

So if the vision of an American flag flying over Iwo Jima or Pearl Harbor or the beaches of Normandy is to evoke something, then let it be our continuing resolve to shun totalitarianism rather than our eagerness to embrace it.  The proud expressions of honor, allegiance and respect you cite will all be greatly diminished if they are made compulsory by a fearful State.  

Sadly, this amendment and its all-too-narrow defeat demonstrate that our Constitution, like our flag, is only as good as those we elect to defend its meaning.  You do not represent me in this perennial waste of energy and diversion of national purpose--which, despite your assertions, is anything but "necessary".  When choosing a representative, I will always look for the Democrat who places true Liberty above empty symbolism.  I hope that upon considered reflection, you will choose to become that Democrat, and work to protect the flag simply by standing for the freedoms it represents.

Sincerely,
(me)