Some people believe it’s better to live in a nation where the flag can be burned but people don’t want to do it compared to a nation where the flag can’t be burned but people want to burn it. Cuba is a case in point. Burn a Cuban flag and you might get shot by the government.
Cubans have much bigger issues to worry about than burning the flag. America OTOH has loads of people, many of whom can’t quite hook up to what America really is about.
Others, trying to show us what’s wrong try to get our attention by doing something we hate. Years ago some people sent used tea bags to government officials to protest the rules of President Obama. Others burned America flags.
One problem with burning an American flag to get attention is burning the flag is so general a statement it achieves almost nothing most of the time. Burn a flag during the Mummers parade and no one knows what that means. Same for burning a flag on the General Pettus bridge in Selma. What is the message? No one knows without more info on why the flag was burned.
Next is the danger of starting a fire in some places. Open burning laws are usually passed to keep the community safer by stopping fires. Some people can’t figure out that burning a flag near a car that’s fueled by highly flammable gasoline can even cause an explosion.
Destroying a symbol can have the opposite effect. It can motivate people to do the opposite of what the protester is protesting.
What about forcing flags to be un-burnable? With typical America ingenuity protesters will figure out how to destroy an un-burnable flag.
Lets make sure that the path’s to protest remain open. It’s important to defend Liberty by being sensitive to the things that can infringe on it and try to reverse them. .
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