by Chris Torgersen

Created on: June 16, 2009   Last Updated: July 02, 2009

Flag burners have been called anti-American. They have been called traitors, who dishonor not only the United States but those who have fought and died for it. They have been derided as anarchists, and a movement has long been underway to ban their actions.

In truth, however, there are few things more quintessentially American than burning the American flag. We are a nation founded by iconoclasts who specifically built into its foundation the ideas that the opposition should not be silenced and that political dissent should be tolerated and even encouraged. How is it that we can even consider silencing a form of expression on the grounds that it opposes us and is political dissent? Such a move would be more of a slap in the face to everything for which this country stands than a field of burning flags.

It is not for the flag that our soldiers fight, but for our very right to burn that flag. They go to war with the idea of defending the ideals of free thought and free expression, including expression with which they disagree. Those who burn the flag do not desecrate this country. They honor it by displaying their defiance - the very same sort of defiance that the nation's founders displayed when they proclaimed themselves free of British rule.

There is a common perception that by suppressing something, you discourage it or make it go away. However, one of the most convincing arguments for free speech is that this perception is false. Suppression does not lead to the death of ideas. It only chases them deeper into the minds of those who have them. Unable to express those ideas, they find more roundabout ways to practice and spread them. Exposing ideas, on the other hand, and bringing them fully into the light. It demystifies them and shows them for how much or how little merit they truly have.

If you want people to stop burning the flag, stop reacting to it when they do. Roll your eyes and walk by. The flag may symbolize the country, but burning the symbol does not equate to burning that which is symbolized. Those who burn it cause no harm to anyone by virtue of doing so. They incite no violence and infringe upon no one's freedom.

Do you love your country? Do you want to stand up for its ideals? Banning flag burning is not the way to do so. Your energy would be better spent fighting against the hypocrisy of those who would rather silence their opponents than argue against them.

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