Senate to Vote on Flag Desecration Amendment

In this country we are blessed with a government that by its very design recognizes that we have a right to free speech. Banning a symbolic gesture such as flag desecration is a large step toward abrogating the Constitution's systematic protection of our natural rights.

Congress is poised to amend the First Amendment for the first time in history. In an effort to thwart two Supreme Court rulings that flag burning is symbolic speech protected by the First Amendment, members of Congress have proposed a constitutional amendment giving themselves the power to prohibit the physical desecration of the U.S. flag. Final passage could come as early as next week.

As Utah Phillips said, "The state can't give you free speech, and the state can't take it away. You're born with it, like your eyes, like your ears.

"Like old Campbell said, 'Freedom is something you assume. Then you wait for someone to try to take it away from you. The degree to which you resist is the degree to which you are free.'"