desecration

I am troubled by this proposed 28th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution:

The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States.

The flag is a symbol -- of freedom, of liberty, of the U.S. Constitution, of the United States of America. As a symbol, it can have different meanings for different people. And as a symbol, it is merely a representation of that meaning. In other words, the flag isn't itself liberty. The United States flag isn't the United States.

Apparently, this needs to be repeated: the flag is a symbol, and only a symbol.

You would think that a largely Christian nation would be able to tell the difference between a symbol and an idol, since the faithful insist they are merely reverencing the cross as a symbol of Christ's suffering and resurrection, rather than actually worshipping the thing as holy and divine in and of itself. Unfortunately, there are a number of fundamentalists -- both political and religious -- who all too quickly blur the lines.

Rather than dive into a bunch of rhetoric about how the language of this amendment would give the federal government way too much latitude in enforcing such a law -- e.g., would accidentally getting a grass stain on the flag be considered desecration? would it be illegal to cut into a cake that has the flag painted on it in colored icing? -- I'll just say this:

Destroying a flag is not tantamount to the destruction of an entire nation. Passing an amendment that erodes Constitutionally guaranteed free speech, however, takes a huge chunk out of the foundation on which this nation was built.

So, my fellow Americans, which would you rather preserve -- your nation and its Constitution, or your precious flag?