The Positive Aspects of Flag Burning by Kari Martin

“Congress shall make no law abridging the freedom of speech”.This is the first amendment written by James Madison in 1791 which has been argued for centuries afterward. The question is; what did the author meanwhen he wrote the word speech? According to the dictionary, speech means “one's habitualmanner or style of speaking.” Flag burning is a way that a personwould express themselves if they disagree with the country. Flagburning is a style of speech. If Congress would want to change thelegality of flag burning they would have to change the consecratedBill of Rights authored in the early stages of our nation. This wouldserve as a precedent for changing the totality of this sacreddocument. Shakespeare so aptly put it, “And many an error by the sameexample will rush into the state.” When this was performed in his play “The Merchant of Venice”, he used this as an example of slack on the law, and others will follow making it assumed that there would always be slack.This is the same as in the Bill of Rights. If the first amendment is changed, thensooner or later the rest will follow in suit. Think of the Bill of Rights as thefoundation of American freedom. If that foundation is cracked,soon all of American freedom will come crashing down. Freedomis the essence of what so many soldiers have died for. Freedom is what theFounding Fathers were envisioning for this nation. Freedom is what somany Revolutionaries were impassioned by. If flag burning is not allowed by the government,then the foundation of freedom will crack and soon come crumbling down.