"America isnt easy, America is advanced citizenship, you have got to want it bad; because, it's going to put
up a fight. It's going to say if you what free speech, let's see you acknowledge a man who's words makes your
blood boil, standing at center stage and advocating at the top of his lungs that which for which you would spend
a lifetime apposting at the top of yours. You want to claim this land as the land of the free then the symbol of
your country can not just be a flag, the symbol must also be one of its citizens exercising his right to burn that
flag in protest." Michall Douglas coined this line in the movie "The American President." I stand with this phrase
and would like to show why I chose this stance. I say burning the Amerigan flag is a symbolic form of speech
protected by the constitution.
What are our basic rights? Did not the founders of our nation fight for basic freedoms? The American
Revolution was a war to protect these said "unalienable" rights. One of these, I feel also the basis of most,
is the freedom of speech. What qualifies freedom of speech? The Supreme Court set a principle for this during
the Vietnam era. A case known as Tinker vs The Board of Education opened the eyes of American citizens
that all speech is not verbal, but also expressed by symbolic actions. The right of burning an American flag only
stands for a single citizens belief; if we are limited to popular opinion were is the line drawn to save
our rights?
The public opinion is a continuum moving from a conservative to liberal view. Many opposers of flag
burning push for a constitutional amendment banning it. In America citizens from all generations and walks of
life would agree that America is a land where the singular citizen's rights are protected from larger groups.
The problem of factions, that is special interest groups, was a dilemma to the delegates of the Constitutional
Convention. They saw in history that factions could cause a nation to split in civil war, but with the protection of
an opposing group it would save the cause. Here the rights of a smaller group, those who wish to burn flags and
those who say it is a Constitutional right, need protecting from the larger interest. When the rigths of an
individual are tested by popular opinion, and he is protected by the national court, only then is the nation truely a
land of the free.
The flag to many represents not only America and its founding beliefs, but it is symbol showing the honor
valor, and humility of soldiers who died to protect these beliefs. I would have to say that the flag does show that,
but where are our personal freedoms? The founders of this nation fought the Revolutoinary War to free
Americans from a then seeming tyranical control of Britian. I stand to say does not limiting our right to express
our beliefs also deface and reject that which is continually being fought for, our freedom. How can a country
that denys its citizens the right to peaceful protest, and speech call itself a land of the free? Why shoud the
government have control over our freedom of speech? The symbol of American is indeed more than the flag, or
the constitution, the capitol building or sky scrapers of New York, then Golden Gate Bridge or the Statue of
Liberty it is a spirit that lives in each citizen. Burning a flag causes no harm to the nation, but is a showing of the
freedoms we so desperatly embrace.
**Quotes from the movie The American President
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