By Ross Hetrick
For a bunch of tough guys, the Republicans sure do get their feelings hurt easily.
They had to take time out from their macho man posturing in the House to pass a constitutional amendment to ban flag burning. Those poor little dears are so afraid that somebody, somewhere in this big, bad country will hurt their delicate feelings by - GASP - burning a flag that they have to alter the supreme law of the land. Hopefully, the Senate has more sense and throws this whiny baby amendment into the diaper pail.
The amendment is such a gigantic waste of time and money. If it does get past the Senate, then the useless debate is multiplied by 50 times as it's considered by the state legislatures. Fox News won't have any time to report anything else. People are dying in Iraq, the federal government is drowning in red ink and 40 million Americans have no health insurance. Doesn't Congress have better things to do then debate whether people can burn a piece of cloth? They really should get a grip.
Of course, passing a law against flag burning doesn't prevent it. If that was the case, there would be no murders or drug dealing. In fact, passing the flag burning amendment will probably provoke more burnings because now demonstrators can become martyrs and show how oppressive the government is. And of course the taxpayers get stuck with the bill for feeding and housing the flag burners while they're in jail. Everybody loses, except the demonstrators who get to show how petty the government is. But then again, how can we look any worse to the world when China beats the USA in a world-wide popularity contest. Maybe its time to go to charm school, and the I don't mean the John Bolton school of How to Make Enemies and Intimidate Subordinates.
Why the congressmen can't just brush off flag burning is beyond me. Didn't their moms give them the old sticks and stones talk? Or were they just taught to throw sticks and stones? I guess they figure that if the Muslims can riot over the Koran, they can criminalize flag burning. What a good example to follow. I wonder if the congressmen - and obviously there were some dumb Democrats that voted with them - even know the meaning of freedom of expression. It means people are able to express themselves freely, even if it angers other people. - Duhhh!!! It's not a hard concept to grasp. Republicans use the word "freedom" as a catchword like people preaching peace and love while hating gays and killing abortion doctors.
But Republicans aren't that dumb. The flag burning amendment is another clever ploy to get people all hot and bothered about an issue so they will be distracted from their real self-interest - like they did with gay marriage and abortion. Remember those issues? The Republicans don't. They're too busy destroying Social Security and packing the courts with conservatives to deal with those matters. Now they'll have anther bogey man with the flag amendment. They'll convince Americans that Democrats will force their children to marry gays, have abortions and roast marshmallows over burning flags.
Actually, on second thought, maybe Republicans don't have egg-shell feelings. Maybe they just have egg-shell policies that need to be protected by fake issues.
If a flag burns and no one sees it, do Republicans still gets votes from it?
