Senate Rejects Flag Desecration Amendment... Thank God!

AP is reporting this afternoon that "A constitutional amendment to ban flag desecration died in a Senate cliffhanger Tuesday, a single vote short of the support needed to send it to the states for ratification a week before Independence Day."

Thank God!

The proposed amendment, which was authored by Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, simply stated, ""The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States." No definition of flag, no definition of physical desecration, and few details about the federal "power to prohibit."

But fuzzy language isn't the worst part of this awful legislation.

I wholeheartedly agree with the New York Times editorial today about Senate Republicans "... they are trying to torch a hole in the First Amendment's free speech guarantee by passing an amendment to the Constitution that would allow federal and state authorities to punish flag-burning. Some things should be out of bounds even in a competitive election year. Messing with the Constitution is one of them."

The federal debt, budget deficit and trade deficit are all soaring to record-shattering new highs under the Bush Administration. The Iraq War has spiraled from mere failure into bloody civil war. Very few of the 9/11 Commission's recommendations to protect US national security have been implemented.

Public education continues to falter conspicuously in the US. More Americans than ever are hungry, homeless and/or earning poverty-level wages, and 46 million children and their families have no healthcare insurance.

But the do-nothing Republican-led Senate, which will meet less than 100 days in 2006, chooses to spend its scant time in session grandstanding on non-issues that are solely symbolic and involve no actual problem-solving (flag desecration ban; non-binding "stay the course" cheerleading on the Iraq War) or legislation they acknowledge will fail (gay marriage ban).

The Republicans' only purpose for these actions is to divide the electorate, not to govern the American people. They should be thrown out of office for wasting taxpayers' hard-earned dollars and failing to provide leadership on the real issues facing the United States.

Related Reading
Burning the Bill of Rights, New York Times on June 27, 2006
A History of US Law Against Flag Desecration by Tom Head, About.com's Guide to Civil Liberties
Senate to Debate Flag Burning Amendment... Again by Robert Longley, About.com's Guide to Gov't Info