Flag burning amendment unnecessary

Back when our country was founded, the foundation for our country was built upon a certain set of rights that were protected in the Constitution. The Bill of Rights granted citizens of this country rights that were not available to others in the world, such as freedom of religion and also free speech. In the past decade, a debate has come about that jeopardizes the right of free speech for an issue that is unnecessarily frivolous. \nLast Wednesday, the House of Representatives passed a proposed Amendment to the Constitution which would prevent people from desecrating the American flag, specifically from burning it. While it is unlikely this Amendment will receive ratification from the Senate, it is still a big deal, as Amendments to the Constitution are not proposed very often. Unfortunately, the subject of this Amendment is not a very big deal. In fact, it is really more a waste of Congress' time to deal with this Amendment.\nIn theory, this Amendment sounds like a decent idea. The American flag is a symbol of our country and what it stands for, so protecting it is a reasonable goal. Yet, in reality, it is a better idea to continue to allow desecration to the American flag for one reason above all others. The First Amendment.\nThe First Amendment protects several different types of freedom, one of the most important being speech. Thus, to silence the voices of American citizens who try to protest and show their displeasure with this country by desecrating the flag would be denying them their First Amendment rights. While the IDS does not necessarily endorse desecrating the American flag, we believe that the option should be open to all citizens.\nIt is also important to note that this is the fourth time in six years that the House has passed this Amendment, and every time it passed the Amendment it never made it past the Senate. It is widely speculated that it will be the same case this time, especially with the Democratic-controlled Senate. With many other issues available to debate for Congress, it is important for them to spend more time discussing issues of importance instead of something like the flag Amendment, especially when one considers the fact that flag burning is a rare occurrence anyway. So Congress, do your delegates a favor and move on from this flag desecration Amendment and spend your time working on issues more pressing to the general public.\n