So Jack Flanagan doesn’t think I’m just picking on him, Republican State Senator Harold French has a proposal in the legislature. A Constitutional Amendment to make burning the American Flag illegal in New Hampshire. In the name of free speech, I strenuously object.
Related: New Hampshire Legislature Considers Bill to Compel Online Speech
This is one of those issues where some Republicans and Conservatives (and a few Democrats) will disagree with me (not for the first time). While I value your thoughts and honor your respect for the symbol, the nation is more than a flag, and without Free Speech, neither has any meaning nor will that meaning last very long.
It is my opinion that we do more to honor the flag by allowing people to burn it than by using the government to prohibit the act.
Good Intentions
As with Jack’s HB1157, CACR 19 is well-intentioned, but it is a purely emotional plea pandering to a false sense of justice. We see people in countries that hate us, or Democrats in California for that matter, burning the flag. Stomping on it. Desecrating it. The act has meaning to them and offends us. And it is offensive. It offends me.
Too bad.
If I’ve said anything with frequency on these pages, it is this. Your right to not be offended does not trump my right to offend you. Or you, me! Being offended does not empower you to use the state to either compel speech or, by extension, silence it.
I’d never burn the American flag myself. I’d never burn the pride flag, the Iranian flag, or any other — not even as a political statement. But I won’t stop you from doing it.
And neither should the State of New Hampshire.
Reference | Texas v Johnson
Resolution Co-sponsors include Sen. Morgan, Dist 23; Sen. Reagan, Dist 17; Sen. Giuda, Dist 2; Sen. Birdsell, Dist 19; Sen. Bradley, Dist 3; Sen. Morse, Dist 22; Rep. Baldasaro, Rock. 5
