The American government, for a long time, has allowed for symbolic speech for a long time. The use of symbols and other conduct to invoke an idea, especially in protest, has been allowed ever since Tinker v. Des Moines Independent Community School District, where students' and teachers' first amendment rights were guaranteed by allowing students to wear anti-war protest bands in school. In the opinion, the Supreme Court found that,
There is here no evidence whatever of petitioners' interference, actual or nascent, with the schools' work or of collision with the rights of other students to be secure and to be let alone. Accordingly, this case does not concern speech or action that intrudes upon the work of the schools or the rights of other students.
The bold portion is especially important. In it, Justice Forta creates an interesting precedence. He implies, and the Court approved, that all acts of symbolic speech can be performed, provided that the speech does not infringe on the rights of others to be safe from harm and from the action itself. So, with this, we address flag desecration. As of Texas v. Johnson, flag desecration has been on that ever-growing list of symbolic expression. The act is incredibly offensive, rude, and inconsiderate to those who sacrificed for the nation. Yet, it is still our right to do it. Why is it that we are? Should it not be stopped?
In my opinion, no.
Our right to expression cannot be limited due that action's offensiveness. The action is by its very nature an expression of an opinion. It says that the person burning it and the people supporting it do not support this country or the way it operates. That is permitted speech. Just like armbands and clothing, I have a right to express my opinion in a symbolic way. The act of flag desecration does not inherently harm another person, nor does it infringe on the rights of others. As such, is there anything necessarily wrong with it?
Consider this: Is there something different about burning the American Flag than, say, a Nazi flag? Would you be supportive of burning the Nazi flag? If so, in what way is the American flag different? That is, what aspects of our moral systems make burning the American flag immoral and makes burning the Nazi flag acceptable?
Consider this: Do I have the right to destroy my own property? If I go out and buy paper, do I have the legal right to burn it? In what way is a flag different?
The Supreme Court argued in Texas v. Johnson that expressive speech through flag desecration should be protected for this reason:
The government generally has a freer hand in restricting expressive conduct than it has in restricting the written or spoken word . . . . It may not, however, proscribe particular conduct because it has expressive elements.
Ultimately, trying to stop this expression is just adding fuel to the fire of those who wish to remove our first amendment rights altogether. Don't contribute to their arsenal. Symbolic speech is free speech, and flag desecration, though rude, is our right as free Americans.
