The First Amendment: Your Right to Burn the Flag

Okay, I have a thought I want to share.  President-elect Trump tweeted about burning the American flag, and those who do it, should be punished by either putting them in jail for a year or have their citizenship taken away.  Talk about setting people’s heads on fire!  LOL!  Yeah, I know some people are annoyed by the President tweeting, but at least it’s his voice, and not someone else’s (far as I know).  He didn’t say he was going to do it.  He was expressing his feeling, and to tell you the truth I feel the same way.  I know the U.S. Constitution guarantees our first amendment rights, and the U.S. Supreme court interpreted that flag burning is a freedom that’s guaranteed by it.  Okay.  I got it, and in truth, much as I hate it, I can accept it.  Doesn’t mean if I see you do it, I might not accidentally throw water on your sorry ungrateful butt (the way I see it), or maybe give you a disgusted look, but I won’t beat you up. 

 

I was watching “The Five” earlier this evening, and Greg Gutfield said something to the effect that being a flag burner was like wearing a tattoo that says, “I’m an ***hole.”  It identifies someone as what they are.  Those aren’t his exact words but it was something like that.  Still the point is a good one as far as I’m concerned.

 

I know that (some) people see flag burning as an expression of freedom, but I’ll tell you the way I see it is this: Just because I enjoy freedom doesn’t mean I have the right to walk around and use the F-word or use the Lord’s name in vain in public just because I can.  I’ve always thought and will always hold to the opinion that with freedom comes responsibility.  It’s a privilege to be free, not a right to abuse those who don’t see or share your view of the world.  We’re free to murder, commit adultery, support abortion, and finance Planned Parenthood.  We’re free to do all of that, and yet I’ll freeze in hell before anyone ever convinces me that it’s right or that you’re being responsible in doing so.

 

Still, I respect a person’s right to disagree with me, and even to express themselves.  I even encourage you to do it.  Use your voice, but as my Grandma said to me, “if you really want me to pay attention to you then use your inside voice. If I yelled, I only got a stern look and a firm, “be quiet or go outside” from her.  You know what I’m saying, and if you don’t then ask someone who’s over the age of 55 with gray or thinning hair, and has enough lines on their face to show that they’ve had plenty to laugh and cry about in their life.

 

Then there are the ones who, like me, see something completely different when they see someone burning the flag.  When I see someone doing this, you know what I see?  I see someone who has absolutely no respect or regard for anyone (not even themselves), and who have no knowledge  or appreciation for what others have done throughout the whole course of our country’s history, and all the men, women, and children, who have served it, and made sacrifices so that husbands, fathers, and sons could do so.

 

What’s worse is that they dishonor all those people who died, who gave up their right to live so that other people, like me, could be free.  When I see that kind of disrespect, when I see that lack of comprehension of duty and sacrifice to an ideal higher than any one person or thing it just makes my blood boil.  If they can’t appreciate someone dying so that they can have their precious right to protest and walk the streets then I’m fairly sure they don’t understand the sacrifice their parents have made on their behalf either, and if any of you have read any of my posts on my blog Wayne Augden, or on here then you know how I feel about people being ungrateful and who have no feeling of thankfulness for all that they have.

 

So though I respect people’s right to disagree with me, and to express their displeasure, don’t expect me to just sit back and take it without expressing to you how I feel about your doing it, and if judging by the American people’s last vote is any indication then there’s a whole lot more people who feel like me than you.  You might give that some thought.

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A Thought on Character Assassination

     As I’m sitting here in front of my computer, I’m thinking about all the things I’ve seen today that I could write about.  I’ve seen a good many things that I haven’t liked, and if I were to go into detail about all of them there’s a good chance this post would be entitled “The Never Ending Post.”  There’s simply so much to choose from anymore when it comes to seeing things I dislike.  Knowing though that I can’t write about everything, I’ll write about this one thing that I didn’t like.

     I was watching a news program (I won’t say which one) in which they showed a story about Nancy Pelosi threatening to disclose information she had concerning  GOP candidate Newt Gingrich.  Now, I’m not here to talk about Nancy Pelosi or Newt Gingrich, but rather about the issue of character and ethics.  Rather the lack of them in this case.  I don’t know Nancy Pelosi or Newt Gingrich personally – only through their public lives as portrayed by the media – so just like everybody else, I only know what I see from how they’re portrayed by the news.

     As far as I know, the media hasn’t taken to putting words into the mouths of the people they cover – though I think some would if they could – so I know that Nancy Pelosi did indeed threaten to reveal information about Newt Gingrich she obtained as part of a group investigation into  Mr. Gingrich’s ethical practices years ago.  I’m no expert, so please don’t take what I say as 100% fact, but I believe that Mr. Gingrich was absolved of most if not all of the allegations against him.  If I’m incorrect please let me know.  The thing I do know is that she would be in violation of the ethics laws of the senate to reveal what she knows.

     I have my own opinion about these people as, I’m sure you do, but I found it distasteful that she would go on national t.v. and essentially threaten to blackmail someone.   Am I the only one who sees something wrong in this?  When did it become okay for people – especially people in public – to come on national t.v. and suggest wrong-doing on the part of someone; to make charges against someone’s character without proof, and – in Mrs. Pelosi’s case – knowing that to do so would be breaking the law. 

     What’s worse is the fact that the media doesn’t even try to confirm facts anymore, nor does anyone.  It saddens me greatly that we now live in a society where people are guilty until they’re proven innocent.  We don’t like someone – for any reason – all we have to do is make something up, just suggest, imply, intimate, that something is askew, and, if it’s our aim to hurt or damage someone, then we’ve accomplished our goal.

     Take, for instance, the story of Herman Cain.  As of today, I have not seen one shred of evidence that Mr. Cain is guilty of anything, other than perhaps bad judgment.  Yet, I have heard political pundits on t.v. say that he is guilty of adultery.  I have not seen any evidence put forth that would convict him in a court of law: no times, no places, no receipts, no witnesses, nothing more than inference, innuendo, suggestion.  I don’t know the man, but I do know that he deserved more than what he got from the media. 

     We live in a country where it’s easy to assassinate someone’s character with nothing more than the power of suggestion, and this saddens me.  There have been too many people ruined, damaged by the carelessness and irresponsibility of others to look for the truth and nothing else.