Wednesday, June 28, 2006

Important issues

Last night, there was a vote on the Senate floor regarding the (once again revitalized) flag burning issue, and whether or not there should be a Constitutional amendment concerning this. Well, the "do-nothing" Congress once again did nothing, as they proceeded to debate on an issue that had a whopping 4 documented cases of abuse thus far this year.

Wow. 4 cases of flag-burning. And our Senate wants to make sure that those 4 cases (along with the huge number of 21 since 2003) are clearly outlined in our Constitution as being illegal. The vote itself didn't pass, mostly due to Democrats voting against the resolution out of a crazy idea that the issue doesn't need to be specifically outlawed within the Constitution. Instead, they suggested that maybe a federal law with clearly definied punishments might be enough.

Silly Democrats. Of course the GOP is going to turn their noses up at the concept of not making a grand, sweeping, and utterly pointless gesture. Besides, this is proof that the GOP loves this country more than the Democrats. They want to protect the flag so much that they're willing to waste ink and alter permanently (until they overrule it... look at Prohibition) a document that holds a special place in American history.

But that's not quite all. Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, knows exactly how important getting flag-burning into the Constitution is. In comparison to things like the energy crisis, the continuing war in Iraq, the minimum wage, the wage hike for Congress, and the issues with affordability of health insurance, quite obviously, Sen. Hatch knows right where the flag rates. It is "the most important thing the Senate could be doing."

Wow. Was I ever off-base. Here, I was thinking that something that's happened 25 times over the last 4 years getting its own special Constitutional designation would rank somewhere below getting pictures of the Pitt-Jolie Messiah (or the Cruise-Holmes Antichrist) into our magazines.

Thanks, Sen. Hatch, for correcting me. And thank you for being willing to put your foot down on this "most important" issue.

No comments: