Where I Stand — Brian Greenspun: Bill of Rights afire

Friday, March 31, 2000 | 9:33 a.m.

Brian Greenspun is editor of the Las Vegas Sun.

THE POLITICS of flag burning.

Mike O'Callaghan and I go toe-to-toe on the issue of a constitutional amendment to prohibit the burning of the American flag. He believes very deeply that an amendment is necessary to allow Congress the opportunity to protect our flag from those who are so callous and insensitive toward the feelings of others that they would burn the flag as a form of protest over something or other.

Mike is a veteran of the first order and a man whose loyalty to country is unassailable. So, too, are millions of other veterans, who feel exactly the same way as Mike does about this issue. To them it just doesn't make sense not to protect the flag from the idiots who would burn or otherwise destroy the symbol of our country.

I understand their passion on this issue but I respectfully disagree. And so do at least 37 members of the U.S. Senate, who made a very difficult vote against the flag burning amendment. Two-thirds of the senators need to vote in the affirmative. Wednesday's vote was four shy of the required number. One of those who voted "no" was Nevada's Sen. Richard Bryan who, until recently, had favored such an amendment. He said he changed his mind after consultation with others and considerable reading on the subject. Since this had always been a close call for him, moving from pro to con was not such a huge step. And while he maintains that his "lame duck" status did not insulate him from the political ramifications of a negative vote, I think it made his switch a little bit easier.

It is very hard in our instantaneous democracy to vote against the wishes of such a powerful and committed constituency as our country's veterans organizations. In most states their numbers are large and their ability to get out the vote for matters in which they are interested is unparalleled. If Bryan was a candidate for re-election he would undoubtedly feel some wrath from those who counted him in their corner, even though he is as ardent a supporter of veterans issues as there may be in the Senate. And since you can't be an effective senator unless you get re-elected, votes -- or a lack of them -- are always an important consideration. Not running for office again frees a person from that concern.

That's why I believe the real heroes in the Senate are the other 36 people who voted against their best political interests. The easy vote was "yes" because no sane and considerate American can condone the burning of our flag. There are thousands of other ways to make a point without hitting people where they live and breathe -- their love of the flag that represents the greatest democracy on the planet. Voting in the negative does nothing more than subject those individuals to retribution by some and the targeting for defeat by others.

Notice that I have not attacked the motives of those who voted with the majority. That's because I believe most of them believe that an amendment is the only way to make people stop doing what is so repugnant to so many Americans. But there is no question that some of those senators are playing the political game and, in doing so, are coming dangerously close to undoing a Bill of Rights that has served this nation well for more than 200 years. That they cannot comprehend the mischief they could create is what disturbs me so much.

The people who burn flags are no different from the people who litter our highways, spit on our sidewalks and throw lit cigarettes out of their car windows into water starved forests. They are either stupid, inconsiderate, insensitive, or spoiled and selfish. Or a combination thereof. Someone should take a paddle to them, send them to remedial manners school or brand them as societal outcasts. And if that doesn't work, a resort to self-help would not be out of the question. But to take the time to create a loophole through our Bill of Rights just to deal with the louts is not the right answer.

Those in the Senate who see rising poll numbers at the end of their "yes" votes are doing more damage to our democratic system than the uglies who demean our flag in the first place. We will always survive a flag burning. We may not be as lucky when it becomes easy to amend certain behavior out of the Bill of Rights. Behavior, I might add, whose definition of repugnance will change from one year to another.

While politics is never far from a congressional vote, there are some matters in which political considerations should not play a part. Declaring war and sending our troops into harm's way, for example, should not be determined by popular opinion. Frankly, neither should a decision to require one group of citizens to bear the burden of nuclear waste disposal which has been created by other groups of citizens who bear no responsibility. And certainly the commitment this nation has to those who have served it in times of need should not be held hostage to popular will but, rather, only to the will to do what is right.

So, when Bryan changed his mind and voted against amending our Bill of Rights, it matters not whether he felt free to do so because he needn't face the voters again. What matters is that he did it, and that enough other senators who may feel the voters' wrath joined him in a cause of real freedom. The framers of the Constitution made it very difficult to change the document they created. They did that for a simple reason: They were concerned that a temporary and popular will would create havoc and change in a document that was written to withstand the test and travails of time.

Since the issue of an amendment was first broached a few years ago, I can't recall 10 incidents of flag burning that have so damaged the national psyche as to require two-thirds of the Congress and three-fourths of the states to act to stop the onslaught. The simple truth is that the few simpletons who would do such an obnoxious thing for whatever attention they might get are not worth the national effort. Not when doing so will create an easy precedent for other changes to the Constitution based upon whose sensibilities are being offended at the time.

My daughter used to come home from preschool saying, "Our flag, our flag, our beautiful flag." She learned at an early age to respect the symbol of our country. If you ask me, that's where we should be spending our efforts and our resources. Teach the young ones the proper respect and we won't have these problems. At least we won't have enough of them so that political haymakers can cause worse problems for the republic.

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