Christopher Shays: “I find it abhorrent that someone would desecrate the flag of the United States of America. But I will not support an…”

“I find it abhorrent that someone would desecrate the flag of the United States of America. But I will not support an amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America to prevent it from being desecrated. When I think of the flag, I think about the men and women who died defending it. What they really were defending was the Constitution and the rights and freedoms it guarantees. In the 101st Congress, my colleagues and I sought to address this problem when we overwhelmingly passed the Flag Protection Act of 1989. I do not feel anyone should be allowed to desecrate the flag. I wish the Supreme Court had decided in favor of the law, but regrettably, by a 5-to-4 vote, it declared the act unconstitutional. Our Constitution has been amended only 17 times since the Bill of Rights was passed in 1791. This is the same Constitution that guarantees freedom of speech and of religion, and eventually outlawed slavery and gave blacks and women the right to vote. Amending the Constitution is an extraordinarily serious matter.”