Bob Filner: “we all love, cherish and respect our flag. Our flag is a symbol of our great nation, a symbol of our fundamental values…”

“we all love, cherish and respect our flag. Our flag is a symbol of our great nation, a symbol of our fundamental values of freedom, liberty, justice and opportunity. And it is those values we must protect. I stand today with Jim Warner, a Vietnam veteran and former prisoner of war, who said: ``Rejecting this amendment would not mean that we agree with those who burned our flag, or even that they have been forgiven. It would, instead, tell the world that freedom of expression means freedom, even for those expressions we find repugnant.'' I stand today with the San Diego Union-Tribune, my hometown paper, which has editorialized against ``the drastic step of amending the Constitution because of the abhorrent conduct of that lone demonstrator and the handful of others who seek attention from time to time by burning the flag.'' Compromising the Bill of Rights, which has stood the test of time, is not the action needed to ensure the strength of our nation. We must do that through proper education of our children--nurturing their love and patriotism of our country--and respect for our flag and national symbols. We can choose the easy path and simply make a law and outlaw an action. Or we can take the difficult and correct path of guiding our citizens back to the ideals of our founding fathers. The more difficult path puts true meaning back into our respect for the flag.”