Happy "We beat up our supporters" day! Let's blow up a flag.

Whoo. Happy 4th, folks. Feel the Independence yet? Yeah, man, I dig it. Feel that liberty ring! All across the US, all across the world - hey, I can even hear faint echoes of it from Guantanamo, from Iraq, from Sudan, from Afghanistan....yeah, baby, listen to those American ideals!

I hate that phrase, with a passion: American ideals. What the hell does that mean? Freedom? Liberty? Justice for all? We don't own the patent to these, people. We didn't invent those concepts. Sure, a couple early American white guys wrote that all men are created equal in the eyes of god, but England outlawed the slave trade in 1807. We didn't do that until 1865, and it was three years more before we let black men claim American citizenship.

A substantial number of Americans have voted to prohibit the residents of their own state to wed on the basis of the fact that they don't like their choice of spouse. Just in the past year or so did the US Supreme court rule that no, the government - be it local, state, or federal - is not allowed to legislated what two consenting adults do in the privacy of their own bed. This, of course, didn't stop some ambitious members of congress (who were of course just looking out to defend the Christian ideals of this entirely Christian country) from trying to ammend the Constitution to restrict the rights of Americans who have done absolutely nothing wrong.

They're at it again, this time trying to chip away at the first amendment. For those who haven't checked out the basis of our government lately - and I think that rather than fireworks, the national 4th of July celebration standard ought to be a reading of the constitution - here it is, in all its glory, word-for-word:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people to peacably assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Proposed addition to the constitution: Let's outlaw flag-burning!

I think that that, even ignoring any and all legal precedent, is pretty clear. Congress cannot pass laws abridging the freedom of speech of American people. Congress cannot pass laws keeping people from assembling peacably. Congress cannot pass laws preventing Americans from petitioning - protesting - the government.

QED. A constitutional amendment criminalizing flag-burning would quite clearly violate the first amendment. I, for one, consider that first amendment, and the rest of the constitution and it's amendments, sacred. Many people have their sacred writings in some translation of the bible, new or old testament. Some have the Q'uran, some have Vedas and other writings, the Book of Mormon, and so on. Some of us have the Constitution. Let's not make it self-contradicting.

And I leave you with this thought: In the history of the Constitution, there has been one amendment passed limiting the rights of citizens, rather than protecting them. That was the 18th Amendment, which prohibited "...the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors..." in America. Note that this was fairly shortly afterwards repealed by the 21st amendment.

Historical precedent, hm?