An Amendment to Ban Flag Desecration

From: Subject: An Amendment to Ban Flag Desecration Date: Mon, 22 May 2006 18:19:33 -0400 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: multipart/related; type="text/html"; boundary="----=_NextPart_000_0045_01C67DCC.462889A0" X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2869 This is a multi-part message in MIME format. ------=_NextPart_000_0045_01C67DCC.462889A0 Content-Type: text/html; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable Content-Location: http://www.cato.org/testimony/ct-rp032399.html An Amendment to Ban Flag Desecration

STATEMENT of

Roger Pilon, = Ph.D.,=20 J.D.
B. Kenneth Simon Chair in Constitutional = Studies
Director,=20 Center for Constitutional Studies
Cato Institute

before = the

Subcommittee on the Constitution
Committee on the=20 Judiciary
United State House of Representatives

An = Amendment=20 to Ban Flag Desecration

March 23, 1999

Introduction=20

Mr. Chairman, distinguished members of the = subcommittee:=20

My name is Roger Pilon. I am director of the Cato=20 Institute's Center for Constitutional Studies.=20

I want to begin by thanking Congressman Watts for = his kind=20 invitation to testify before the Subcommittee today on "H.J. Res. = 33:=20 Proposing an Amendment to the Constitution of the United States=20 Authorizing the Congress to Prohibit the Physical Desecration of = the Flag=20 of the United States." Unfortunately, the invitation came after I = was=20 committed to speak out of town and so I will have to submit this = written=20 testimony for the record.=20

In the past I have had the pleasure of working = with Chairman=20 Hyde of the full Committee and Chairman Canady of the Subcommittee = on=20 several issues, and I look forward to working with them again in = the=20 future on others. On the issue before the Subcommittee today, = however, I=20 am afraid I must demur, taking a position opposite that of the = chairmen=20 and many on this Subcommittee. In fact, because this issue = separates me=20 from so many with whom I normally join hands, I sense a special = burden to=20 show why I believe this proposed amendment is unwise--indeed, is=20 fundamentally mistaken.=20

Let me begin to discharge that burden by making = clear from=20 the outset what should be beyond any doubt, namely, that I do not = write to=20 defend those who would desecrate the flag of the United States. I = dare=20 say, in fact, that my contempt for such action is equal to that of = any=20 member of this Subcommittee. For the flag is not simply the symbol = of=20 America; more deeply, it is the symbol of the principles on which = this=20 nation rests. Those who would desecrate the flag are thus guilty, = at=20 bottom, of desecrating our principles, which is why we find their = acts so=20 offensive. Ironically, however, it is those very principles that = protect=20 such acts--and restrain the rest of us in the process.=20

In a word, therefore, I am here not to defend flag = desecration but to defend the right to desecrate the flag, = offensive as=20 the exercise of that right may be to so many Americans. That = position may=20 strike some as contradictory. It is not. In fact, there is all the = difference in the world between defending the right to desecrate = the flag=20 and defending flag desecration itself. It is the difference = between a free=20 and an unfree society. This amendment, as it tries to shield us = from=20 offensive behavior, gives rise to even greater offense. By = offending our=20 very principles, it undermines its essential purpose, making us = all less=20 free.=20

Let me plumb those issues a bit more deeply by = noting,=20 first, that flag desecration of a kind that this amendment would = authorize=20 Congress to prohibit is political expression and, second, that = political=20 expression is precisely what the Framers wanted most to protect = when they=20 drafted the First Amendment. In a pair of cases decided in 1989 = and=20 1990--involving first a state, then a federal statute--the United = States=20 Supreme Court said as much, which is why those who want to = prohibit people=20 from engaging in such acts have resorted to a constitutional = amendment--an=20 amendment that would, for the first time in over 200 years, amend = the=20 First Amendment. That alone should give pause.=20

But it is not the First Amendment alone that = protects the=20 rights of political expression. Even before the Bill of Rights was = ratified, two years after the Constitution itself was ratified, = citizens=20 were protected against overweening federal power by a simple yet = profound=20 expedient--the doctrine of enumerated powers. In a word, there was = simply=20 no power enumerated in the Constitution through which the federal=20 government might abridge political expression. Arguing against the = addition of a Bill of Rights in Federalist 84, Alexander Hamilton = put the=20 point well: "Why declare that things shall not be done [by the = federal=20 government] which there is no power to do?" This amendment would = expand=20 federal power in a way the Framers plainly contemplated--and = rejected.=20

It is crucial, however, to understand precisely = why the=20 Framers wanted to protect political expression. To be sure, they = thought=20 such expression was essential to the workings of a free society: = democracy=20 works, after all, only when people are free to participate in the=20 processes through which they govern themselves. But it was not a = concern=20 for good consequences alone that drove the Framers: more deeply, = they were=20 concerned about the simple matter of protecting rights, whatever = the=20 consequences of doing so. The protection of our rights is tested, = however,=20 not when what we do or say is popular but when it is unpopular. = Stated=20 most starkly, a free society is tested by the way it protects the = rights=20 of its least popular members.=20

Sir Winston Churchill captured well that essential = feature=20 of our system when he observed in 1945 that "the United States is = a land=20 of free speech. Nowhere is speech freer--not even [in England], = where we=20 sedulously cultivate it even in its most repulsive forms." In so=20 observing, Churchill was merely echoing thoughts attributed to = Voltaire,=20 that he may disapprove of what you say but would defend to the = death your=20 right to say it, and the ironic question of Benjamin Franklin: = "Abuses of=20 the freedom of speech ought to be repressed; but to whom are we to = commit=20 the power of doing it?"=20

When so many for so long have understood the = principles at=20 issue today, how can this Congress so lightly abandon those = principles? It=20 is said by some that the flag is a special case, a unique symbol. = That=20 claim may be true, but it does not go to the principle of the = matter: in a=20 free society, individuals have a right to express themselves, even = in=20 offensive ways. Once we bar such expression, however, Franklin's = question=20 will immediately be upon us. What is more, we will soon find that = the flag=20 is not unique, that the Bible and much else will next be in line = for=20 special protection.=20

It is said also that the flag is special because = men have=20 fought and died for it. Let me suggest in response that men have = fought=20 and died not for the flag but for the principles it represents. = People=20 give their lives for principles, not for symbols. When we dishonor = those=20 principles, to protect their symbol, we dishonor the men who died = to=20 preserve them. That is not a business this Congress should be = about. We=20 owe it to those men, men who have made the ultimate sacrifice, to = resist=20 the pressures of the moment so that we may preserve the principles = of the=20 ages.

| Index of = Testimony |=20 Cato Institute = Library |=20 Cato Institute Home = |=20

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