Do we really need a constitutional amendment against flag-burning?

John H. Walker
Big Spring (Texas) Herald

06.04.99

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Remember the theoretical question we've all been asked: "If a tree falls in the forest and there is no one there to hear it, does it make any sound?"

Well, there are events in life that I think occur simply to provoke thought and discussion and I personally think the current debate in Washington over a proposed constitutional amendment to ban flag burning might be one of those events.

While I feel it is personally repulsive for someone to burn our American flag, do we need a constitutional amendment against it?

Didn't our forefathers come to this land to escape the political repression of freedom of speech? And whether or not we agree with it, isn't the burning of a flag or the wearing of it on a pair of jeans or the back of a jacket an expression of speech even though no words are spoken?

The effort to get the constitutional amendment before the people is one that has run into problems. While it has consistently passed the House, it has never gotten the two-thirds vote needed in the Senate to send the measure to the states.

And if you'll recall the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) of some years ago, once the amendment goes to the states, it must be ratified by three-fourths or 38 of the states to make it part of the constitution.

But in the 208 years since the first 10 amendments were ratified on Dec. 15, 1791, changes to our constitution have come slowly and with reason.

There is a reason our founding fathers decided it would take a two-thirds vote in both the House and Senate, followed by a three-fourths vote of the states, before the constitution could be amended.

The most compelling reason, perhaps, is time.

While the action in the House and Senate comes during a session, it takes time for the states to ratify a constitutional amendment.

Remember all of the momentum behind the ERA?

Early on, those proponents of the amendment pushed hard and were able to gain ratification in a number of states ... but as times and emotions changed, the ratification process slowed to the point the amendment died with little more than a whimper as the 13-year clock rain out.

The last time we amended our constitution was on May 7, 1992, when Michigan ratified the 27th amendment, which said no law varying the amount of compensation of senators and representatives could take effect until an election of the representatives was held.

Prior to that, it was on July 1, 1971, when the last amendment was ratified by three-fourths of the states. That one, the 26th, gave the vote to 18-year-olds.

There was a flurry of four amendments approved between March 29, 1961, and July 1, 1971, during the era of John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon, but by and large, ratification of amendments has not been an easy task.

To be honest, I can't stand it when I see someone burn our flag. I find it to be offensive when I see demonstrators in China burning it, but I find it vile when I see an American citizen desecrating our colors.

I personally don't feel that burning the flag is a right guaranteed by the constitution, but the Supreme Court disagrees. Two times, the court has declared flag-burning laws unconstitutional abridgments of free speech.

Perhaps you will agree that it is a perplexing question ... after all, the flag is a symbol of our country and the red in the flag stands for the blood that has been shed over the years in defense of our great land.

And our great land ... remember again that it was founded by those who sought to get away from political and religious tyranny ... who sought a better place ... one where they might feel free to speak their mind or otherwise express themselves.

Two-hundred years later, who's to say that doesn't include the burning of the flag?

John H. Walker is editor of the Big Spring Herald.