MARK MY WORDS
WHAT'S OFFENSIVE
BY MARK WARDEN

Imagine the following activities, and then rank them one to 10 in order from most offensive to least offensive.

• A drunk driver speeding through a crowded school zone.
• A thief (or elected official) stealing someone’s property.
• A protester burning the American flag.
• A homeless person urinating in a public park.
• A man burning an effigy of Saddam Hussein.
• A teenager painting graffiti on your car or house.
• A stranger posting a sexually explicit photo of your daughter or niece on the Internet.
• An illegal alien collecting taxpayer-funded “free” social services.
• A foreign student burning an effigy of Ronald Reagan.
• Your local school board banning Catcher in the Rye from high school English classes.

Each of these causes visceral reactions from most people. However, out of 100 people, it’s unlikely flag-burning would top more than a handful of lists. There are many worse acts than some stranger somewhere burning Old Glory. Truth be told, the government taking away yet another of our liberties is far more harmful and offensive that some zealot’s anti-patriotic act of protest.

So why are so many people in Washington and across our nation spending valuable time and energy on lobbying for legislation — or a constitutional amendment — to criminalize this simple act of taking a flame to a piece of canvas?

Our great flag is a symbol; nothing more, nothing less. Displaying the flag is an expression of one’s love and respect for this great nation. The key word is “expression,” an act protected by our First Amendment right to free speech. Burning the flag is also an expression.

Are there valid reasons for showing your displeasure with America by burning Old Glory? What if your local government just took your property through eminent domain, against your consent, for non-public use? What if your cancer-stricken mother was just sentenced to five years in prison for purchasing marijuana to smoke in order to help relieve her symptoms? What if your Army reservist son was killed by a suicide bomber in Iraq a week after being called back to active duty, forced to leave behind his wife and children?

While we already have too many laws in this country, we have many more pressing issues to tackle than the one over flag burning. Leave symbolism behind and direct our energies to issues that really matter. LW