Stupidity is contagious...

If you read (or at least skim) dozens upon dozens of blogs per day as I do, you undoubtedly now know that the the blogosphere has been virtually aflame with heated debate about the failed 'flag desecration' amendment.

I have nothing more of my own to add really. I said my piece and I'm done with that. But I do have a few comments upon others comments to append to this.

Frist, sorry, FIRST, LegendHasIt (whom I generally and sometimes violently disagree with) made an otherwise great point on the Hot Air blog:
"Most of these Senators ‘wipe their behinds’ with the CONSTITUTION every day. Do they think that amending that same Constitution which they disregard and defile on a regular basis to limit what people can do with their own property (even if it is a symbol of the Nation) will make us ‘commoners’ love them?"

I agree wholeheartedly with this part of the comment (and not much else, thank you). It's a very important point though. Why is the constitution, as a symbol of our nation any different than the flag? Both are just pieces of material when you get down to it. It's what they REPRESENT that's important. The same folks who are wigging out over a statistically tiny number of people symbolically 'desecrating' an important U.S. symbol (the flag) are the same people who are much less symbolically and much more regularly 'desecrating' an even more important U.S. symbol (the constitution). Huh.

Second, Glenn Reynolds makes a great point about how this whole debate is just one big pissing contest for those who hope to be reelected sometime in the near future. As he points out, the approval ratings for our national leaders tells the tale:
A solid majority of Americans favor a hypothetical major third party.
Over 50% of Americans say congress members in general do not deserve to be reelected.
Only 38% of Americans approve of the job congressional Democrats are doing.
Only 37% of Americans approve of the job the president is doing.
Only 33% of Americans approve of the job congressional Republicans are doing.
Numbers don't lie.
As Reynolds sums it up, "The two parties have each tried to gain votes mostly by arguing that the other is worse. Perhaps enough people will come to agree that we'll wind up with third -- and fourth -- parties. It might not be such a bad thing."

It couldn't be much worse.

Third, this business of calling anyone who disagrees with the prevailing wisdom a 'liberal' is just one more knee-jerk reaction to what amounts to a national knee-jerk reaction to, well, a knee-jerk reaction. Of course, the problem with 'prevailing wisdom' is the same as with 'common sense': both are usually neither. Until we all quit the name calling and actually talk about the issues, we're just going to have more of the same.

Finally, Sen. Inouye's comments still sums up my position best and I'm sticking with it: "Our country's unique because our dissidents have a voice. While I take offense at disrespect to the flag, I nonetheless believe it is my continued duty as a veteran, as an American citizen, and as a United States senator to defend the constitutional right of protesters to use the flag in nonviolent speech."

If you don't understand this, read it again. If you still don't understand this, read it again. Repeat as necessary.