It's been a some time since I started this blog and have not been great about making posts. It always takes a while to form a new habit. I was going to write about photography in a philosophical sense, but instead, recent events have motivated me to craft a posting about flag burning.

It was a huge relief last week when the senate rejected a proposed anti-flag desecration amendment. However, the slim one-vote defeat, not to mention the perennial resurfacing of this issue is more than a little troubling.

Personally, I like to think that the spirit of America is strong enough to weather any criticism or insults that others might throw at it. It also seems to be a truism that the only speech that needs constitutional protection is speech that is unpopular, offensive, or critical of the government.

Whether a flag is being desecrated depends so much on context. It requires law enforcement to decide if a person's intention is patriotic or disrespect. Such distinctions would seem to fall into the purview of Thought Police.

What bothers me most about the anti-desecration movement is that I don't believe a symbol is worthy of legal protection. Any particular flag can be protected, either because it is private property, public property or because it is an important historical artifact. If I take a piece of paper and draw an American flag upon it, to say that the paper is now sacred and protected from desecration by law is just state enforced idolatry.

This illustrates my point well.

If you can't make a political rant in your own blog, where can you do it?