I wrote about this in a blog long gone last year, when the House first passed the flag burning amendment.
My girlfriend just went to a conference on this troubling situation, and since I hadn’t heard much about this since last summer, I did a little digging. First the good news. Still one vote shy. And Rhode Island’s own Lincoln Chafee is opposed. That’s about it.
The bad news: In addition to the 52 Republicans in support, Harry Reid, Dianne Feinstein, and 12 other Democrats are on board. Unfortunately, I cannot say that I am very surprised. The Democrats have a pretty pusillanimous record when it comes to protecting civil liberties.
When it comes to certain issues, such as this and capital punishment, I am often shocked at how far from the mainstream I appear to land. The majority of America apparently supports this amendment, and a much stronger and more diverse majority of Americans support the death penalty. It makes me think that I need to spend less time wrestling with issues with which I have severe ambivalence (abortion, welfare state, foreign policy) and focus more on figuring out how to appeal to others on issues of which I am completely, unequivocally in favor. Hmm.
P.S. If this amendment is passed, I'm gonna get wicked creative with Photoshop, just like this guy--->
2 Comments:
My feeling is that, many basic ideas that seem inherent in the system and basic to its functioning, such as that crazy fifth amendment, or lord, freedom of press, seem downright wacky to a lot of people, and probably did at the time as well. I mean, you're allowed to not testify against yourself? What nonsense is that?.
When it's security vs. freedom, it's very hard to put forth an emotional argument in favor of freedom over security. Patrick Henry's "Give me liberty or give me death" only goes so far.
So I think that, often, the mainstream doesn't give a rats ass about incremental changes, which means, yeah, we have to work extra extra hard to fight for those rights and convince people they matter.
This is one of my favorite quotes, courtesy of Benjamin Franklin:
"Those who would give up an ssential liberty to purchase a little temporary security, deserve neither liberty or security"
(The wording varies depending on the source)
Oh, and my favorite congressman from Alabama, Artur Davis, voted against the amendment last year.
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