Dose the first amendment right give us the right to burn or desecrate our flag?
823948
As I understand it, yes it does, if said action is being used as an expression of opinion and harms/risks no one.\n\nIt's disrespectful, true; but on the other hand, the US of A is not a flag---it's a history and a people, and most importantly, a system of governance that was originally intended to grow with society while still preserving basic freedoms and rights. A flag is merely a symbol, that many people see in different ways (see opinions on the Confederate Battle Flag, for example). What really matters is that our laws preserve our freedoms and support our rights---as the founding fathers intended. I worry far more when a law is implimented that violates those rights, than when some yo-yo burns a flag for the tv cameras. One of them results in a pile of soot and a lot of hoo-ha... the other directly affects my rights and freedoms as a citizen.
307732
We absolutely MUST protect the First Amendment!  It is the pinnacle of what we are as a nation, and to destroy it is to destroy the nation.  No joke!\n\nI had not been aware of any serious attempts to have us declared a "Christian Nation," but they must be resisted staunchly.  Not only because many of us are not Christian, but because we need to protect our rights even in the abstract.  It is true that non-Christians might be permitted to be citizens in a Christian Nation.  Or they might not.  Or they might only if they contributed to Christian churches.  In any case, this would not really be America, the Home of the Free and the Brave, if this assault on our First Amendment succeeds.\n\nEven if you are a Christian, do you really want to support losing our freedom?
1001124
Oh, I am wounded to the core.\n\nAre you familiar with a document that conservatives shredded and used for toilet paper called the Constitution?  Well, the First Amendment  to that document, which Bush is reported to have called "just a GD piece of paper" guarantees free speech as not only a value, but a right.\n\nIt is not an absolute freedom, of course, there are restrictions against its abuse, such as libel and defamation, obscenity, incitement to crime, and sedition.  Although they have been rejected by American courts, some arguments have been made that speech which is offensive whould also fall under restricted speech, such as using the phrase "sissy liberal talk."
304150
1) \nIt is protected by the first amendment of the Bill of Rights:\n\n'Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.'\n-Speech also implies expression\n\n2)\nDesecration of the U.S. flag so far is legal.  Although recently (2005) the House passed a law making in illegal to desecrate the American flag.  It is still awaiting further approval through our legal system.
125455
No... Why? First Amendment rights. Freedom of speech.
542800
Trying to figure out how this new "War on Terror" justifies suspension of our Constitution.  In 1812, with a foreign enemy burning down Washington D.C., NO PART of the Constitution was re-written or suspended.  Emergency provisions did not ever give the president the power to unilaterally enforce the law before.  This was in the face of our absolute destruction with an very real enemy on our soil.  Now we have a fantasy enemy over-seas that takes occaisional potshots at us, which we created through our own failed foreign policies, so we now need to give up every fundamental legal and expression freedom we have?  Do Americans just not have balls these days?  Why aren't the real conservatives trying to "conserve" our damned Constitution which has weathered EVERY CRISIS before this?  I just don't get it.\n\nIf you want to hunt me down, I'll be easy to find in the postage stamp sized "Free Speech Zone".  When I was a kid, everywhere was a Free Speech Zone...except maybe in church.
822519
By private individuals, if they own the item, they can burn it. It's their property, and whether doing it as symbolic expression or merely disposing of personal property, it's not something that can be regulated by the govt.\n\nIf you're talking about the state seizing property and destroying it, then such action constitutionally prohibited as infringment on both speech and religion. \n\nSo, (at least in the US) the state can't stop people from doing it, but they can't do it themselves.
1042696
I think the answer can be really simple.  If the flag is burnt because of the country it represents (in this case, America) then it definitely wouldn't be OK to Americans.  It's the reason behind the action and what it represents.
1098761
The real answer I do not know but let me speculate.\n\nChina...if you burn their flag you probably go to prison and they don't have any other flags to burn,\n\nIran...if you burn their flag you probably get beheaded or hung but if you burn an American flag you probably get a raise or new better job.\n\nCuba...hmmm probably just prison
643254
Amendment I\nCongress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.
1156274
The flag is the symbol of our COUNTRY ... not the successive governments ... consequently, if you desecrate the flag, you desecrate the country ... any American who desecrates the flag, spits on his country and on the people who spent their lives defending it ... well, if that's what they want to do, then that's what they want to do, in the name of "freedom of speech" .. personally, I think if anyone feels they have a need to express contempt for their country, all I can say is ... America is not for you ... get out of it ...
1021669
Amendment I - Freedom of Religion, Press, Expression. Ratified 12/15/1791\n\nCongress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.\n\nGiven the first amendment above, since Congress cannot make any prohibitions on the free exercise of religion any U.S. President certainly has not the right to do that either.  Also, if he goes so far as to kick Pagans or Wiccans out because of their religious beliefs that violates the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
1116317
Unconstitutional or not, if you burn a flag, you should be tried for treason. It's one thing to be pissed off at the government and talk about how pissed you are. Free speech gives you that right. But to act on it violently, such as vandalism and arson (which is what you could break it down to when you burn a flag), you are breaking the law.
1187325
I think anyone who burns the U.S. flag should be arrested and placed in jail for a minimum of 60 days and then be made to join the military for 1 year. I'm a vet I put my life on the line for this country and so has every male member of my family since the Revolutionary War. I consider it an insult not only to me but all those before me who gave their lives so these punks have their "freedom of speech"
776528
These are some of your rights if that is what you mean\n\n1.The First Amendment guarantees the freedom of worship, of speech, of the press, of assembly, and of petition to the government for redress of grievances.\n2.The right to bear arms openly–adopted with reference to state militias–is guaranteed by the Second Amendment\n3.The Fifth Amendment provides that no person shall be held for "a capital or otherwise infamous crime" without indictment, be twice put in "jeopardy of life or limb" for the same offense, be compelled to testify against himself, or "be deprived of life, liberty, or property without due process of law."\n4.The Sixth Amendment guarantees the right of speedy and public trial by an impartial jury\n5.Seventh Amendment guarantees the right of trial by jury\n6.The Ninth Amendment states that "The enumeration in the Constitution of certain rights shall not be construed to deny or disparage others retained by the people."\n7.By the Tenth Amendment "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.
1051629
Hte flag belongs to the American people and so does the constitution say, if someone insults the flag is insultting all the Americans.
988957
Nope.\nIt means he follows the letter of the Constitution. Although, most Conservatives would like to see the burner horsewhipped, they do conceed his right to perform the act.\n\nIf you want to get technical, a "flag burning" is the only acceptable way of disposing of an American flag. When I was a girl scout leader our troop disposed of the council's worn out flag. If you ever get the chance to go to a "flag retirement" it is a very moving and patriotic experience.