What he said!

Here's Steve, pointing out what I think is a waste of political capital:

In national news, the House of Representatives passed an Anti-Flag burning bill with a vote of 286-130. You remember flag burning, that issue that has enflamed so many Americans recently, enough that we must galvanize the government to push through this proposed Amendment. I like what the folks at the moderate voice had to say about this, as well as their quotes by Citizen Smash. Real quickly, they abhor flag burning (so do I) think it's quite distasteful (as do I), but they also disapprove of a flag-burning amendment. The Moderate Voice looks at this as nothing short of partisan politics, a group trying to find an issue they can rally around and cause a stir over - is it free speech, or is it a desecration of an American Symbol? I can't help but agree with that synopsis. I'd not heard much in the news since about this in several years, and can't think of any good reason to bring it up now when there are so many other issues that can and should be handled first. I'm not really the best one to bring clear issue to this, so I recommend reading the moderate voice's post.

To which I'll add my comment to Steve's post: I'm with you on this one, Steve. If you'll pardon the pun, this is not one of the burning issues of our time, nor is it something I think should clutter our Constitution. One of the great strengths of our Constitution -- as opposed to the 300+ pages of detailed drek spouted in the proposed EU constitution -- is its brevity. It is a useful, living document precisely because it does not get bogged down in the details of day to day life in America but, instead, hews more to broad principles. And flag burning, while distasteful, is not a broad principle. UPDATE: I'm wondering to which constituency the Republican congresspeople who passed this proposed amendment are pandering. Those in the blogosphere whom I regularly visit are united in believing this is a bad day's work. See, for example: Brain droppings The Anchoress CDR Salamander Chrenkoff Little Green Footballs