| The following column appeared in The River Reporter, August 6, 1998, and was republished on August 12, 1999. |
from "Barbara Frietchie" by John Greenleaf Whittier
By Bert S. Feldman
The Recusant Reporter
Thursday, August 6, 1998
There comes a time in the world of newspaperdom that is known as the "silly season," when the summer's heat drives most wise people into a shady spot with a cooling drink, and the dearth of newsworthy items brings on much foolishness.
The latest silly season cause seems to be the urge to push for an amendment to our Constitution outlawing the intentional burning of the American flag.
I will yield to no one my dedication to Old Glory and all that she represents. I have fought for her while in uniform. I have been a Boy Scout leader, and I fly my flag every clement day from a flagstaff in front of my house. But the concept making flag burning a federal offense is somewhat akin to using a sledge hammer to swat flies.
Try this one on for size:
"Prudence, indeed, will dictate that governments long established, should not be changed for liqht and transient causes; and, accordingly, all experience hath shown, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed."
Pretty strong stuff, isn't it? No, it wasn't written by Karl Marx, or even Saddam Hussein. It was written by Thomas Jefferson as part of the Declaration of Independence.
The right to dissent, the right to disagree with our government, the right to cuss out any member of our government from the president on down to our local dog catcher, is what a democratic form of government is all about.
John Peter Zenger, a New York printer, went to jail in 1733 for writing a news item concerning royal governor William Cosby's hanky-panky with the government's funds. Zenger's attorney, Andrew Hamilton, established that truth is the defense in matter of libel. The climb upward for freedom has progressed steadily since them, with some slippage.
You have the right to charge any member of the government with any crime, but you must be able to back it up with proof.
In fact, you can do anything that disagrees with the government, unless, and this is a big unless, it causes harm to someone else, or if destroys or damages property. Some 20 years ago, in Skokie, IL, the Ku Klux Klan (Kompany of Kowards in Knighties, as Mark Twain described them) marched through a predominently Jewish neighborhood. The Skokie police were on hand, but nothing untoward occurred.
Of course, too much dissent can get out of hand. In 1860, because of disagreements on certain government actions, South Carolina seceded from the rest of the United States, taking certain other Southern states with them. The result was a Civil War.
The late Supreme Court Justice, Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr., summed it all up in a single phrase — "Freedom of speech doesn't mean you can yell 'Fire!' in a crowded theater."
So let's not play games with the Constitution of these United States.
If there is a flag burning group, ignore them as they did in Skokie. Misdemeanor charges such as burning without a permit, inciting to riot, and like existing laws will take care of most of these Loony Tooners. Mainly they want the publicity. Just ignore them.
