Rand Paul: “I want to point out that the word ``desecrate'' is a very important word. We have talked about it all day but have not…”

“I want to point out that the word ``desecrate'' is a very important word. We have talked about it all day but have not yet defined it. It means to deconsecrate. What I want to know is when we have consecrated the flag. We are holding the flag in the highest of esteem, and yet liberty is really what should be on the pinnacle. Liberty and the Constitution. When we undermine the Constitution and the Bill of Rights, we undermine liberty and then we diminish the value of the flag. But to deconsecrate something means that the flag was consecrated. I want to read what that means. It means ``To make, declare or set apart as sacred,'' or, such as a church, ``To set apart for the worship of a deity. To change the elements of bread and wine into the body and blood of Christ.'' Who and when did we raise this flag to this level? Have we deified the state to this extent? We very often complain about the state taking over parental rights, and here we are now saying that to do anything to the flag is a desecration, which means that we have consecrated the flag. To desecrate means to abuse the sacredness of the subject of sacrilege; that we cannot commit blasphemy.”