Last call for freedom of speech! Enjoy it while you can, because it’s going fast.The Senate is giving careful consideration to an amendment that would make flag burning illegal. Granted, the Supreme Court ruled flag burning constitutional, since freedom of expression was implied in freedom of speech. Well kids, it’s time to change this and usher in a golden age of censorship.Taking the fight to the pinko liberals, is Orrin Hatch (truly a man of our times). Not only has he assembled a panel of experts, but he has mastered cheesy semantics games well beyond the call of duty.Reactionary forces claim freedom of expression is not speech, so should not be protected by the first amendment. I’m assuming sign language and Morse code will be the logical next steps.The panel of experts consisted of three, junior high fascists who won an essay contest, a 19-year-old political science major, Tommy LaSorda, and a Vietnam vet. All agreed flag-burning is bad. (I’m not making this up).Sen. Hatch also gave a rousing speech proving that not only a lack of family values, but rampant flag-burning are responsible for urban decay, economic stratification, and the decline of civilization in general.A wacky liberal might say that oppressive regimes known for their civil rights atrocities punish flag-burning severely.Liberals be damned! If modeling our government after evil dictatorships makes us more American, full steam ahead!Other crackpots might make other claims. Once we start chipping away at freedom of speech, we’ll never stop. Soon it will be illegal to criticize our “democracy” that places corporate interests ahead of the needs of the people. Proposed changes to the Bill of Rights are scary, and fill a thinking person with a fear of things to come.Tell people like that, “If you don’t like America, get the hell out!”All kidding aside, we shouldn’t allow amendments to what we consider to be the unalienable rights of human beings across the globe. Prior to the Revolution, the Boston Tea Party was a symbolic gesture of colonial discontent. According to reactionary logic, maybe tea dumping should be illegal as well, since a lot of people like tea.The American flag, like all flags, is a symbol. It means different things to different people. To some, it means much. To others, it means little. However, free speech has a very concrete meaning. Being able to express yourself however and whenever you wish. This will probably give the spotlight to someone whose views you disagree with sometime down the road. Tough cookies, we live in America and that is what free speech is all about. Once restrictions are imposed on free speech, it ceases to be free speech. There is no “partial” free speech. We either have it or we don’t. Once we start regulating it, we won’t stop until it is totally gone. There is no getting off of the censorship train.So stop kidding yourself, you might not care for freedom of speech, but there is nothing un-American about it. In fact, burning a flag could be one of the most patriotic things you could do.Our country was founded by the proles expressing discontent with the government in the most dramatic way possible. Over the years we’ve become docile serfs in the corporate feudal system. Old ideals of freedom and equality will rise from the ash of flags that have ceased to mean anything.Stand up for freedom of speech. Write Sen. Glenn (503 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510) or Sen. DeWine (140 Russell Senate Office Building, Washington, D.C. 20510). Demand they vote for the integrity of free speech.
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