Posted on 11/27/2006 4:43:55 AM PST by Kimberly GG
Yeah, all those Italian flags I have seen flying around the Philly area the last twenty years were such a threat to our heritage.
I'm very anti-illegal immigrant. But I'm also pro-First amendment. I agree with the sheriff. Unless a foreign flag is being flown in a manner that is disresptful of the American flag (such as when an American flag at a school was pulled down and a Mexican flag run up), people have the right to display flags of any country.
You do NOT fly a foreign flag on the same pole with the US flag. There are extensive guidelines for proper display of foreign flags in conjunction with the US flag.
I might agree with you about being allowed to fly another flag (then again, I might not), but I don't believe it's the Sheriff's responsibility to decide what laws he will and will not enforce. The duly elected representatives passed this ordinance and it's not up to him to decide not to enforce it.
Re the article: they should be called illegal aliens, not undocumented immigrants, most of them scores of documents.
What is 'a constitutionality'?
How did this clown manage to be elected when he does not know what his job is?...
Hint to Mr DeMeo: sheriffs enforce existing laws, lawmakers generate them, and the courts determine constitutionality. We got into this mess largely because morons such as you (DeMeo) did not and do not enforce laws they personally don't like...just do your job!
And, again, Italian, Polish, and mexican are NOT races.
What if the town passed a gun confiscation law and the sheriff refused to enforce it? Would you be so critical of him then?
Sheriffs are elected, not appointed. He is the chief law enforcement officer of his county. I'm glad he has the stones to tell the town council that they crossed the line here. I wish more LEOs would stand up to usurpation of the rights of citizens by legislatures.
Clown? I'd say he has a good pair to stand up to this.
sheriffs enforce existing laws, lawmakers generate them, and the courts determine constitutionality.
Ah, so if the town council banned guns, the sheriff should just go along, kick in doors and take guns away from otherwise law-abiding citizens. He should ignore that "shall not be infringed" language in the 2nd Amendment until a court rules on it.
Good analogy with the gun confiscation law, but honestly, I think I would rather depend upon a citizen taking it to court than a law enforcement (key word-enforcement) officer doing it on his own.
I'm glad when ANYONE stands up to usurpation at whatever level. Too many people toss aside entire sections of the Constitution when it suits their views. An elected sheriff should not need guideance from courts to recognize a gross affront to the Constitution or the Bill of Rights.
Unless, of course, the judges rule in a manner you disagree with, at which point you would loudly proclaim "Who made judges arbiters of what is Constitutional?"
It's up to men of principle at all levels of government to say no to clear Constitutional violations, since there are so few left.
I just don't see it as clear cut unconstitutional as you do. Believing that, I don't see it as the sheriff's job to decide the close question when the people have decided through their representatives to enact it.
How's that? I can't fly a foreign flag in my own yard without permission from the government?
The sheriff is elected as well. Is his election somehow inferior to the town councils?
I think more LEOs SHOULD error on the side of caution when it comes to enforcing new laws. Too many just enforce them without questioning whether the law is proper and constitutional at federal and state levels.
You made your bed dirt, now it is time for to lie in it.
"They can fly any foreign flag they want, so long as they fly an American flag above it."
And as a small government conservative who believes strongly in personal liberty I don't think it should be any of the government's bussiness what flag they fly or don't fly.
No, it's private property. I fly any flag I please and I don't have to fly a union flag above it nor would I even if I owned one. Good for the sherriff to respect private property rights.
Dane, take your whine and stuff it, OK? You are the one who posts flame-bait threads and now you have the audacity to say I've courted people?
Don't be so purposefully obtuse. You know that the council was elected as representative of the people. The sheriff's election is not inferior as you suggest I think. Rather,the sheriff was not elected to pass laws but to enforce those passed by others. Their responsibilities are different. I might not have a problem with your argument if I thought that the ordinance was blatantly unconstitutional. I don't. I think it may be a close question. In a case like that it should not be the sheriff deciding the question because that is not what he was elected to do.
Uh yes, BTW, to quote a famous song, "how does it feel, to be on your own".
I'm not being obtuse. Both the town council and sheriff are elected officials.
Rather,the sheriff was not elected to pass laws but to enforce those passed by others
And I am saying that it is absurd that we have gotten to a point where a law is constitutional until a judge says otherwise. Just think how much better the fedgov would be if the opposite were true - that the legislature must make their own case regarding the Constitutionality of a given law, and if they passed a law but failed to provide such, law enforcement was not obliged to enforce it until a judge ruled.
And I'm sorry, but this is clearly an unconstitutional law. The town could ban all flags of certain size or manner of display, but they cannot mandate content or the nature of the flag. If a US flag is flown, then basic rules for such apply. If the US flag is not flown, no rules apply other than limits on size that apply to all flags. Restrictions on signs or flags must be content-neutral except for matters of obscenity.
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