FLAG-BURNING BAN DETRACTS FROM REAL PROBLEMS, ISSUES

A constitutional amendment to ban the burning of the American flag passed the House of Representatives a few days ago by an overwhelming vote, easily surpassing the two-thirds margin required to approve a proposed amendment. Its prospects for Senate passage are far less certain, as most observers doubt that the requisite two-thirds majority can be obtained in that chamber.

The flag desecration controversy of recent years dates from a 1989 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court that struck down a Texas law banning such acts. This decision is in turn based on a line of court decisions that, like so much other mischief, emerged from the Warren Court, out of nowhere, in the 1960s. It is a fundamentally flawed line of reasoning that extends the First Amendment's protections of freedom of speech to conduct, or what the court calls "expressive conduct." Under this reasoning, then, the court has upheld the "rights" of nude dancers to "communicate" by "expressing" themselves through this particular trade. From that fundamentally mistaken distinction throwing the protections of the First Amendment around conduct, it was just a short jump to finding flag burning as constitutionally protected, expressive "conduct".

It is quite possible to view this line of court decisions as the wrong turn that they are and still not see an overwhelming need to enact such an amendment. Flag-burning incidents are so few in number each year as to hardly gain notice in a nation as large as ours. They are deliberately provocative acts and as such will frequently be met with a less-than-peaceful response from those whom the desecrator intends, after all, to provoke.

No brief for flag burning is advanced here. This is unmistakably a vile and repulsive act, a vicious violation of democratic civility, and the perpetrator will neither receive sympathy nor be heard to be surprised when he provokes the violent response he knew might follow. Old Glory is a unique and wonderful symbol of national unity, its custody and customs worthy of veneration and enduring respect.

It just seems that with all the vital issues Americans face, our lawmakers can find more pressing business than to amend the Constitution over a few such incidents each year. Reform welfare, institute a flat tax, abolish the Internal Revenue Service and, at the state level, fix a runaway workers' compensation system. And, oh, while you're at it, lawmakers, how about restoring a free market in health care, abolishing four or five Cabinet departments (including the federal Department of Education) and giving us back local control of our schools? Now those would be real legislative accomplishments.