Flag-Burning Redux

One of the most familiar organized debate topics is "Should Congress have the power to outlaw physical desecration of the flag?" It was the first question I debated in sixth grade, and remains a presence in almost every tournament at the high school and college level. However, unlike abortion and marijuana legalization, which still provoke heated discussion, the omnipresence of the flag desecration topic provokes stupefied boredom. So I'm assuming most Harvard students, like me, cringe just a little when flag desecration becomes an issue again. This time, however, the chance that it might actually have some real application to our lives has injected the topic with some spark.

Debate class has become dangerously close to reality. The House has always had well over the two-thirds majority required to ratify an amendment reading "The Congress shall have the power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States," which was passed by the Senate judicial committee last Wednesday. The Senate was three votes short of a two-thirds majority last time the topic came around, but now the Senate may achieve the number required for passage due to the retirement of one die-hard opponent and waffling by some who voted against it the last time. Upon passage, the amendment would have to be ratified by at least 38 states and 49 have indicated they would do so.

This possibility verges on the extraordinary because only 27 out 10,000 proposed constitutional amendments have ever been ratified. One might think that with the seriousness with which we treat the topic there are tens of thousands of extremist militia or political groups who go out each night and have flag-burning events. Not exactly. The number of actual incidents involving a physical desecration of the flag is paltry, and of so little interest to the public that the media does not publicize such occurrences.

Another part of what makes the whole topic seem so ridiculous and blown out of proportion is the commercialization of the flag. We Americans wear boxers covered with little American flags. Is that more or less of a desecration than burning the flag in front of the White House, which at least has a political motivation? Is the American spirit trivialized by those little toothpicks with American flags on them, that people use to serve hors d'oevres? One could make a case that both of these uses are offensive, and one could also argue that our country was founded on the notion that we could use the flag as we see fit. But honestly, I think I would have a hard time keeping a straight face while one side challenged the other about whether the toothpicks could go down the garbage incinerator.

The political fact is that burning the flag is anti-patriotic, and no politician wants to be associated with anything that could have such a devastating impact on his or her re-election plans. But the recent shift in the political winds regarding the proposed amendment corresponds directly to recent events.

The revitalization of such an old topic of debate reflects in part the anxiety in this country over the often ineffective and sometimes disastrous American involvement in the genocidal civil wars of Bosnia and Kosovo. Such wars imply an overarching instability not just in the world but in "civilized," predominantly white Europe, with which many Americans feel a strong affinity. These wars have also shown that the U.S. can't fix everything that goes awry in the world, and in fact, often makes the situation worse. While this is a blow to our national pride and foreign policy, nothing compares to the sense of moral chaos that people feel is at home.

People worry most of all about the school yard murders like the recent one in Littleton, Colo., and view them as a sign that values are declining in the United States. The location is again important. These shootings aren't happening in schools with metal detectors at the door (always a hint that your child's safety may be in question), situated in the inner city and surrounded on a daily basis by violence and drugs. These are affluent suburban public high schools, the home of the same soccermoms who showed their voting power in Bill Clinton's election.

While high school seniors are 200 times more likely to get into Harvard than to be murdered in their school, according to Newsweek, over 57% of Americans think that something like the Colorado murders could happen in their childrens high school. This statistic most likely helped produce this statement by Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, after his panel passed the proposed flag-burning amendment: "We are experiencing a value malaise in this country, and the negative impact falls hardest on our children. Without a strong value system, our childrencannot distinguish good from bad or right from wrong."

Very little seems more wrong or more evil than children killing children. One could easily conclude that this shows that there is something very much wrong with our country's moral fabric. But bringing literal fabric into the picture requires a mental leap of some magnitude, and as a cure for our countrys woes, is insultingly simplistic.

This isn't to say that the topic of flag desecration doesn't address important issues of free speech and how we view this country. Personally I believe that part of what makes our country great is permitting citizens to non-violently protest against our laws, our army, our elected leader. Our country is founded on the premise summarized by Voltaire as "I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." Burning the flag is a childish but far from unconscionable way to protest governmental action. Thus, I find the proposed amendment disturbingly reminiscent of the criminalization of any physical desecration of Stalin's portrait, intentional or unintentional, in the now-defunct Soviet Union.

But as the time draws near to when the Senate must vote, and everyone and their neighbor spouts off the same points we've heard a thousand times, keep it all in perspective. Giving Congress the power to make flag desecration illegal isn't a cure-all for our problems nor is it the end of freedom as we know it. And next time you have a good ol' Fourth of July barbecue, make sure to get American flag party napkins. Breezy H. Tollinger 'O2 is a first-year in Lionel.