As a libertarian who believes in free speech and property rights, I think it should be legal to burn the American flag as long as both of the following conditions are met:
Posted on 07/20/2018 12:01:49 AM PDT by grundle
This article from the Washington Times includes the following photograph of Maxine Waters supporters burning an American flag:
As a libertarian who believes in free speech and property rights, I think it should be legal to burn the American flag as long as both of the following conditions are met:
1) The flag being burned is the property of the person (or people) who is (or are) burning it, i.e., the flag is not stolen.
and
2) The flag is burned in a manner that is in accordance with all of the fire and safety laws, i.e., the flag burning doesn’t pose a physical threat or fire hazard to the lives or property of other people.
Well, the particular incident in the above photograph fails this test, because, according to the same article from the Washington Times:
A small crowd that gathered Thursday outside the Los Angeles office of U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters to counter an expected protest by a self-styled militia group burned an American flag taken from the back of a pickup truck.
The vehicle, occupied by two men who appeared to be white, was stopped by the crowd. Some marchers opened the doors and one grabbed the flag flying on a pole in the bed of the truck, which sped off.
In other words, they stole the flag.
In my opinion, the fact that these Maxine Waters supporters stole an American flag is far more significant than the fact that they burned it.
I hope the person who stole the flag is prosecuted for robbery.
And I hope the people who blocked the vehicle and opened its doors are charged as accessories to robbery.
There is no excuse for committing robbery. Shame on them.
Maxine Waters supporters chant ‘black power,’ burn American flag outside her office
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/jul/19/maxine-waters-supporters-burn-american-flag-outsid/
[Maxine Waters supporters chant ‘black power,’ burn American flag outside her office]
Well, there’s a surprise. Not.
This is the kind of terrorism old Maxine has been trying to stir up.
Except this may turn out to be mild. When will they loot, commit arson, etc.? /BLM redux
I could never agree with him on that. Contempt of court is a crime. Contempt of the flag, i.e., the whole country, is far worse.
Not only prosecuted for robery but violating whoever’s speech to display it
Those uppity Amish are at it again. Send them all back to Africa, call it “Reparations.”
Waters, Sharpton, Jackson, Obama, the black caucus and so many others; keeping the race baiting industry thriving for generations.
As long as such people are allowed to exist in our society there will never be a time when we are color blind. Never.
Isn’t it odd how white people will generally condemn white supremacy but black people won’t do the same thing to black race baiters within their own ranks? This double standard will also keep racial animosity alive and well indefinitely. Breeding hatred pays a lot of money; just ask these well known race baiters.
The truly interesting thing is the number of white supremacists has dropped to almost nothing while the number of black race baiters has increased exponentially during the same period of time.
This black power salute started in the 1968 Mexico City Olympics. I first saw this in the Army in 73 in Korea. Both myself and an SF SGM went to units and ran the blacks out of dayrooms they had taken over. This crap being taught in schools today is a disgrace. Common core is revisionist history.
I despise anyone who burns the American flag no matter whose it is and think it should be a federal crime. I fought and was seriously wounded in combat defending what that flag stands for and represents.
Thank you for your service and sacrifice.
Thank you. It was my honor to serve my beloved country.
Go buy a rainbow flag and burn it in public. See how these bastions of free speech treat you,
There’s their picture. Arrest them.
For me it is a “Know your enemy” kind of thing. If you burn my flag, I know who you are.
I could never agree with him on that. Contempt of court is a crime. Contempt of the flag, i.e., the whole country, is far worse.I think it should be legal to burn the American flag.
My proposal for the “freedom of speech” objection to objections to flag burning is simple: Congress should define the meaning of the act. But only as a reputable presumption.That is, Congress should say that anyone who publicly demonstrates by burning a flag for a TV broadcast station wants to sell his citizenship to a legal immigrant for a Congress-specified price, and permanently leave the country. And Congress should define his/her right to contract to do so.
There would be a hearing at which the contract could either be consummated, or disavowed. Any TV broadcast station which broadcast the original speech would be obliged, as a condition of license renewal, to broadcast that hearing as well.
The left has no excuse for their actions proof their minds have rotted away.
Well, Dan, her base is made up of Democrats, to whom thievery is a way of life, both for government officials and their voting base.
I have family living in Squirrel Hill, by the way.
A flag is nothing more than a piece of fabric colored in a certain pattern. Do you believe in private property rights? If I own a piece of cloth, I'm damn sure free to burn it—even if it's in the pattern of the American flag—even though I never would do so as a sign of disrespect.
Real Freedom means tolerating things that other people may choose to do, even if you find the act offensive and never would do it.
Indeed, burning an American flag that is worn out or damaged beyond repair is a bona fide way of properly disposing of it (when accompanied by other recommended procedures).
To reiterate: burning one's own personal property in the form of a piece of cloth, regardless of the pattern on it, should not be a crime—indeed it cannot be a crime, according to the US Supreme Court.
I totally agree—except, of course, in the context of the legitimate disposal of an American flag that is no longer suitable for proper display and cannot be practically repaired.
I just wanted to make sure that I clearly stated my opinion on your point, and that there be no doubt as to where I stand regarding that dishonorable act.
But who knows? Maybe I'd burn an American Flag if the Government repealed or negated the Second Amendment or Bill of Rights, for example.
I recall that when the Federal semi-auto ban was signed into law by President Bill Clinton, I displayed the American flag upside down for a few weeks as a sign of extreme distress and disapproval—along with a rendering of a gravestone signifying the death of the Second Amendment...
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