So Far, You Have the Right to Remain Stupid

Our President has presented our citizens, not to mention the world, with a blizzard of ideas and actions, the legality of which in many cases are yet to be finally determined. One of the issues is “an old friend,” that being whether or not it should be a crime to burn the American flag.

Flag burning is now not a crime, but is determined freedom of expression by a prior Supreme Court ruling. The issue may well again be re-examined by a Supreme Court with a different cast of characters.

Flag burning was an issue before the North Dakota State Legislature back in the Jurassic days when yours truly heard the testimony pro and con before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Those in favor were primarily the American Legion of which I was and still am a member. My father, who at that time was still alive, was a lifetime member of the American Legion and a former chapter commander. As a retired Master Sergeant, no one ever accused him of being a liberal. A crafty maneuver by the Minot Legion was to have the husband of one of my legal assistants testify in favor of the bill.

On a broader perspective, it was my opinion that the overwhelming majority of my constituents would take a dim view of flag burning. That said, a rational argument could have been made that flag burning was a solution in search of a problem. I had never witnessed a flag burning, and have not to this day.

Whether or not flag burning is or is not a crime, in my opinion it is not a very bright thing to do. It is obviously ineffective in a policy debate to also gratuitously inflame your opponents. As a matter of politics, obviously a no vote could be used by your next opponent as evidence that notwithstanding one’s resume as an explorer scout, prosecuting attorney, and having an honorable discharge from the army, that you hated America.

At the end of the day, however, the primary justification for voting yes was that public flag burning would likely precipitate violence in the jurisdiction I represented. That could rationally be described as a form of disorderly conduct.

The Supreme Court disagreed with this country lawyer. They apparently thought that in America we have the right to remain stupid. If stupidity were a crime, who among us hasn’t done something stupid? How many of us would wear a baseball cap that says, “I AM ALWAYS RIGHT”? People might think we were nuts.