Just hope that the cop that comes to help you, when you are getting your skull crushed for burning The Flag, feels the same way as you and not the way tadpole and I do.

LOL... I agree... although I imagine that'd be pretty unlikely...

The "right" to burn The Flag is an illusion at best.....

And that's all it comes down to: the way the cop feels. It is your feelings about the flag that you are acting on, not some real harm being caused. Could this not be likened to a person crushing a gay person's skull because he "feels" some special hatred toward gay people? What about a person crushing another person's skull because he feels some special hatred toward Democrats or Republicans?

I understand that when various colors of cloth are sewed together in a specific pattern, you associate some meaning with that result. But that meaning and the sanctity you associate it is an opinion, and it's an opinion that shouldn't be forced on someone else.

So in response to your question, yes, I hope the cop does feel that people shouldn't be injured because of their beliefs or actions, so long as those beliefs and actions aren't harming someone else.

A right is something that you are able to do. A right may or may not be protected in our Constitution. I imagine you do not mean to say that flag burning isn't a right, but instead that it isn't protected in the Constitution. In that sense, I would imagine it to be a difficult case to make that flag burning is protected in the Constitution, so you may be correct about that. However, that does not change the fact that denying people the right to burn flags is a denial of their freedom and their property, and it isn't justified.

And Burning a Flag is a Violation of the U.S.C.

How about this you want to live in the United States of America you respect The Flag of the United States of America.

Simple really

Exactly, love it or leave it...

Why? Is there really an answer for that? Why should someone have to respect the flag of the United States of America? Instead of saying that they should, I ask you to explain why they should.

That being said, you have made the assumption that burning the flag can only be done out of disrespect, which does not make sense. The reasons I have listed for burning the flag include disrespectful reasons, neutral reasons, and also reasons born from a deep respect for the flag.

So even if there were some good reason not to disrespect the flag, what does that have to do with burning the flag? You misassociate the act of burning something with a disrespect, but the vast majority of manmade fires have nothing to do with a disrespect for anything.

Frankly, this code shouldn't exist in my opinion. Does a free nation truly force the patriotism of its people? Does a free nation ban its people from disliking the nation? Of course not, why should it do that? Disrespecting the nation doesn't hurt anyone. Our nation doesn't even ban us from disrespecting individual people, and surely individual people are far more important than "the nation", for "the nation" is really nothing more than an idea; it isn't a person with real feelings or something like that.

Then why do you work to change any policy ever? Why do you ever disagree with the administration? Why don't you just love it or leave it?

The truth is that our nation isn't perfect, and some people are going to be displeased with the actions of our nation. But those people should be free to disrespect it all they want. What kind of nation are we to force our people to love our nation, to tell them that if we aren't giving them a fair chance, then instead of expressing their displeasure, instead of protesting, they should just leave our nation? Are we not good people who care about the opinion of our citizens?

Instead of taking away people's right to disprespect the nation, we should be considering that disrespect rationally. We should consider whether the disprespectful people have a valid reason to disrespect the nation, and if so, we should correct that. If not, we should do nothing, so long as they aren't harming anyone else.

And what will really be accomplished by forcing people to engage in patriotic acts? Do you think forcing people to act patriotic really makes them love this country more? Or do you agree with me that forcing people to act patriotic is nothing more than a denial of freedom, and that by preventing people from burning the flag, we are the ones disrespecting our nation.

Instead of loving the flag, I recommend that you guys love freedom, equality and happiness. If you don't love those things, then maybe you should be the ones who leave. Or, if you don't believe in freedom, then don't fight for a nation which holds freedom tatamount. But you don't have to leave and you can fight if you want; it's your choice in a free nation.

Actually if you had been following the whole thread you would have seen that I posted my Scouts respectfully burning Flags no longer fit to be displayed.

They were being burned out of respect.

we were specifically talking about burning the Flag out of disrespect.

Do you not understand that these are all thing that The Flag stands for?

What is it about a flag that would cause men to risk so much for a colorful piece of cloth?" But the value of the flag is not found in the fabric of its make-up. The value of the flag is found in what it represents.

Think of it this way:
You have just gone to the store to buy school supplies. As you walk back to the car a strong gust of wind causes the sheaf of notebook paper you purchased to fly through the air and into the street. Would you risk your life to dash into the street to recover a simple sheet of paper? Of course you wouldn't.

Now imagine that as you walk back to the car you are holding a MILLION DOLLAR winning lottery ticket in your hand. To what extremes would you go to recover IT if the wind blew it into the street? Like the previous example, it is just a sheet of paper. But the million dollar winning ticket means more than paper, it represents something of far greater value.

Since the birth of our Nation, more than ONE MILLION Americans have died defending the freedom our Flag represents.

I did read that. But I also read the part where tadpole claimed he would bash my head in if I burned the flag because I held a different opinion of the meaning of burning it, and I read the part where you agreed with him. This indicated to me that you might support bashing the head in of someone who burned a flag for some reason other than disrespect.

I also read the part where tadpole said that flag burning is against the US Code, which you responded to by quoting a passage which states only that disrespecting the flag is against the code.

Those are what I was responding to; if you believe that it should be permissible to burn the flag if such burning isn't done out of disrespect, then that's one place we agree on. So I will turn my attention to burning the flag out of disrespect.

The flag is just a piece of fabric. It represents freedom, equality, and happiness only because you believe it to represent those things. In answer to your question, no I would not risk my life to save a notebook, and yes I would risk my life to save a willing lottery ticket. I would do this because I could exchange my lottery ticket for wealth.

Yet using the same comparison, there's no way I'd risk my life to save a flag. It's just a piece of cloth; if it is dirtied or destroyed, no one is harmed, and I've lost nothing more than a piece of cloth. However, I would risk my life to save someone's freedom, equality, and happiness. See, the flag is just a symbol. Lots of people think it represents freedom, equality and happiness. But being a symbol, no freedom, no equality, and no happiness are lost if we allow it to be defiled. It is just a piece of cloth.

When the people of our nation go to war, they do so to defend freedom, equality and happiness. They do not do so to defend the flag. Because the flag is a symbol, it reminds the soldiers what they're fighting for. But it only reminds them of those things they're fighting for. The flag itself is not what they are fighting for.

So when an individual burns a flag out of disrespect, they aren't burning that which people fought and died for. They're burning a piece of cloth. Lots of people think it represents freedom, equality, and happiness, but freedom equality and happiness will remain completely intact if we allow people to burn flags.

If we wanted to harm the real things that our soldiers fought for, freedom would be a great place to start. And what more common way is there to take away freedom than to deny our citizens the right to protest against the opinion of the majority?

If a person burns a flag out of disrespect for our nation, then perhaps that person does not believe that our nation truly stands for freedom, equality, and happiness. As a free nation, should we not grant our people the freedom to express that belief? If we should give them that freedom, then how is burning the flag an exception?

Or perhaps an individual doesn't believe in freedom, equality, and happiness. In the same fashion, shouldn't we allow that person the freedom to express that belief? And why is flag burning the exception?

If we are going to call ourselves a free nation, we can't only grant people freedom when we like the message they're sending or the principles they're supporting. We must give even those the majority doesn't approve of freedom. Even annoying people have rights. Burning the flag out of disrespect doesn't hurt anyone; it is merely a freedom of an individual to use his property as he sees fit. So why should it be disallowed?