Back to the Flag-Burning Page

The purpose of this page is not to encourage flag burning. Nor is it to promote wanton desecration of a symbol which many hold dear. It is, rather, a standing protest to any amendment to the U.S. Constitution which would allow Congress or the States to pass laws against flag burning - laws that the Supreme Court has already said are unconstitutional.

This page was established in March of 1995, as a protest to the attempted "Flag Protection Amendment." After the amendment was narrowly defeated in December of '95, I thought the issue was over. Unfortunately, the amendment has been re-introduced. Once again, this page will serve it's main purpose: to defeat any attempt to change the Constitution of the United States over flag desecration.
I hope that this page will serve the following goals:

It's worth noting that I plan to maintain this page indefinitely, although those plans will change if the amendment does pass. This page will certainly violate state and federal laws if the flag desecration amendment goes into effect. In that case, this webpage would become the first ever to be shut down by the US Government purely for its political content. Let's hope that doesn't happen.

Note: I wrote the following words on March 5, 1995. I had no idea at that time that this amendment would actually PASS in the House. Although some of the numbers I use below are dated now, I still feel the same way, so I'm keeping the words the same.

My name is Warren S. Apel, and I am a fairly politically-active guy here in sunny Arizona. Some of my legislators are making decisions that I don't particularly like, so I offer this page as a rebuttal.

Republicans Matt Salmon, Bob Stump, and J.D. Hayworth recently signed on to legislation, along with about 247 other Congressmen, that would lead to a constitutional amendment banning flag desecration.

For more information on this issue, please see A Brief History of Flag Burning, which gives the full text of the proposed amendments and related action on the House and Senate floor.

Haven't we, as a nation, been here before? The less-conservative Congress in 1990 voted similar legislation down. Didn't we move on to more important things? Perhaps the "contract" (which I never signed) gives Republicans more control in the area of taking away personal liberties.

Congressman Hayworth gave a good reason, at least, for his signature:

"I view flag burning as tantamount to obscenity."

Well, shit, J.D. I think using the symbol of our nation in an effort to get re-elected is obscene. I think blindly following the orders of your Grand Old Party is pretty darn obscene, too.

We certainly have some laws to stop flag-burners already. You can't burn someone else's flag without their permission, or it's vandalism and arson. You can't burn your flag on someone else's property, or it's trespassing and arson. But if I want to burn my flag on my own property, I damn well better be able to.

Actually, I have no desire to do so. But I demand the right.

Now, here's a short list of some other things that might also be made criminal by the new amendment to ban flag desecration: