The flag's pious defenders

Congress plans to waste time this week on the hardy perennial and all-around bad idea of amending the U.S. Constitution to outlaw flag desecration.

The fact that Sen. Bill Frist, Republican majority leader, and other equally misguided Republicans and Democrats want to revisit this tired old topic is a sign that Congress has run out of gas for the summer. If members don't have anything better to do, they ought to go home. One week, it's a dog-and-pony show on a constitutional ban on gay marriage. This week, Congress wants to while away the hours on a constitutional ban on flag burning.

Bringing back the issue of flag burning for another go-round is a great way to literally rally around the flag. But with votes all but counted and no expectation of passage, this boils down to a monumental waste of time. No wonder the public holds Congress in such low esteem.

Though Frist is leading the way, this is not just about Republicans. Democrats, including California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, have jumped on the bandwagon to solve a problem that doesn't exist.

There have been exactly three flag burnings in the U.S. this year, according to the Citizens Flag Alliance, a group that supports the amendment.

While it is unnerving to see our powerful symbol of freedom and independence burned or desecrated, it remains an expression of free speech that must be protected. Free speech trumps the insult of flag burning every time.

The right to express disapproval of our country, its policies and its flag is an important and protected right of free expression. When the American flag is burned in other countries — and that is where it has more chance of occurring — U.S. laws have no bearing.

Tinkering with the Constitution, diluting a powerful right of free speech, is a bad idea.