Without reverence for America and her Flag, then the Constitution and Bill of Rights are just a bunch of words on paper. The Flag isn't just a chunk of material that falls within the First Amendment, it is inherent to what GIVES us the First Amendment.
I support an Amendment against Flag burning.
The first amendment only describes limits on what the government can do, based on inherent rights of man. It in no way ascribes value or worthiness to the state or its symbols. In fact, the first amendment makes it clear that individual expression is far more valuable than the authority of the state. America is the fantastic entity it is precisely because we believe that the individual is more important than state power. No, the flag does not give us our freedom. It represents our freedom, but no man can destroy our freedom by burning its symbol. He only hurts himself when he does so. And I speak of the Palestinian or the Communist who burns the American flag overseas when I say that. The American flag has stood for their freedom as well as theirs, but you can't destroy something that comes from within the human being by burning a symbol of it! What comes from within is much more powerful and enduring than that.
Tamsey (Free Republic .... Partisan Pajama People) :Without reverence for America and her Flag, then the Constitution and Bill of Rights are just a bunch of words on paper. The Flag isn't just a chunk of material that falls within the First Amendment, it is inherent to what GIVES us the First Amendment. I support an Amendment against Flag burning.
Until the Executive Order of June 24, 1912, neither the order of the stars nor the proportions of the flag was prescribed.
So I guess, up until then, the first amendment wasn't applicable?!? I'm pretty sure the Declaration of Independence clearly states the source of our freedoms.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."