Essay on American Flag

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and will continue to lead America in a fulfilling direction. Another freedom that is equally important as the freedom to protest is having the freedom of choice as Americans.

The First Amendment, and other constitutional rights assist with the freedom of choice. The American flag is a cloth-like symbol of the nation. There are no laws depicting whether or not desecration or burning of the nation’s flag is illegal. Having the ability to fulfill the demands of one’s needs is an ability that is protected. According to Stewart, the government is unable to prohibit a message that a citizen wishes to display of choice by burning the American flag (1989). One can burn the flag at a bonfire with friends or in a public area because of their personal passions, opinions, or reasons. Burning the American flag addresses a message and testifies resentment and frustration, all of which are protected freedoms.

The United States as a nation runs on freedom. With having the ability to express one’s feelings with the freedoms that Americans have, speech, protesting, and choice are no different when burning the American flag. These freedoms are given to the American people from previous civil activists and trials that have gone above and beyond to the House and the Senate passing bills and making laws to help protect those constitutional freedoms. Burning of the flag is a public right, no matter how controversial, that should not be taken away as there are no laws representing the illegal side of this matter.

References

Analysis: Freedom of expression and the role of a supreme court: Some issues from around the world. (2010). King’s Law Journal 21(3), 529-534.

Gelber, K. (2012). Political culture, flag use, and freedom of speech. Political Studies, 60(1), 163-179. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9248.2011.00893.

Hostetter, D. (2007). “An international alliance of all nations against racism”: Nonviolence and solidarity in the antiapartheid activism of the American committee on Africa, 1952-1965. Peace & Change, 32(2), 134-152. doi:10.1111/j.1468-0130.2007.00423.

Stewart, D. O. (1989). Burning Flags, Steamy Calls. ABA Journal, 75(10), 56.

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