Thursday, September 30, 2004

On Stamp and Flag Burning

By Kurt Nimmo

Okay, so let’s worry about the really important stuff.

For instance, John Thune, a Republican challenging Democrat Tom Daschle, insinuates that Daschle is some kind of anti-American pinko for not supporting the so-called Flag Burning amendment. “Unfortunately, Sen. Daschle has consistently voted against this amendment,” Thune told reporters in Rapid City, South Dakota. “My record on this is very clear.”

Translation: Thune is more patriotic than Daschle, so voters should put him in office—that is if you consider bastardizing the Constitution patriotic.

I write this because somebody here on the Press Action site took Tracy McLellan to task for telling a postal employee he’d burn stamps with flags printed on them. As an American, he has all the right in the world (or the United States) to burn stamps he has purchased, so long as he follows simple public safety rules.

In fact, as I see it, even if he is from Iraq—maybe especially if he is from Iraq—McLellan has the right to burn stamps with tiny American flag representations printed on them, so long as he’s not stealing stamps from somebody else and burning them.

No doubt, for many people, this makes sense—people, that is, other than John Thune and the Republicans (and a whole lot of Republican Lite Democrats). For these folks burning a flag and possibly a small representation of a flag on adhesive paper is akin to lighting up the Declaration of Independence with an acetylene torch.

It’s just irrational emotionalism (or opportunism), far as I can tell.

Point is, an angry post followed McLellan’s statement, in essence telling him he’s a terrible parent (without establishing first if indeed he is a parent) and suggesting he burn his stamps in Canada. I’m not sure why he suggested Canada. My family is from Canada and let me tell you a lot of Canadians are as irrational about their small flag representations as Americans. It’s probably the same in France—although a lot of Americans hate the French, despite the fact they gave us the Statue of Liberty—and the same in a whole lot of other countries, including the ones Bush wants to invade.

Now that I’ve said that, I’m sure John Thune and at least a few million other red-blooded types would call me a traitorous American (naturally, John Thune wouldn’t really care what I say since I’m not Tom Daschle and I don’t have something he wants, but you get the point, or at least I hope you do). Maybe I should go to Canada, too, even though I no longer have relatives there. Besides, as a resident of New Mexico, it’s too cold up there. But I digress.

Burning the flag is political speech. It’s covered by the First Amendment. John Thune may not like it, even though he is obviously relieved Daschle voted against a flag burning amendment to the Constitution, thus providing the Republican with mud to lob during the election (call it political speech, if irrational political speech). And the guy who took McLellan to task for burning a flag—or rather telling a government employee he was thinking about burning small pieces of paper with flag representations printed on them—obviously does not like the idea of political speech directed against symbols he apparently finds more sacred than the primary article of the Bill of Rights.

I don’t like the idea of religious zealots offending people of other religious persuasions (or no religious persuasion) by erecting replicas of the Ten Commandments in public schools. But I don’t want to make a constitutional amendment forbidding it … wait a minute, there already is a constitutional amendment forbidding it, aforementioned (separation of church and state), so never mind.

I don’t like a lot of things people say or do but I’m not running around organizing a committee to demand there be an amendment attached to the Constitution outlawing certain political speech I happen to disagree with or find offensive.

I can’t help but think of William S. Burroughs. Bill said the problem with America—and I paraphrase—is that there are too many puritanical busy-bodies running around poking their noses in the business of other people. If somebody wants to burn stamps, that’s their business, so long as they don’t burn down the post office in the process. If I own the symbol, I can do whatever I want to it, and it’s none of your darn business. I can, as well, teach my kids that expressing an opinion in such a way is healthy for the political vitality of a constitutional republic (even if we no longer live in a constitutional republic, thanks to people like John Thune, the Republicans, and most Democrats).

In Canada, they don’t have a Bill of Rights, so I don’t know why Tracy McLellan would want to go there. As an American, I don’t want to go live there. I’ll stay right here and continue to insist the Constitution and the Bill of Rights remain inviolable, even if they no longer are.

Besides, it’s too cold in Canada.

Kurt Nimmo is a photographer and multimedia developer in Las Cruces, New Mexico. He is the author of Another Day in the Empire: Life in Neoconservative America, a collection of essays published by Dandelion Books. Visit his weblog at KurtNimmo.com.

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