The House of Representatives approved a Constitutional Amendment to ban flag burning, something they have been pushing for more than a decade. The Associated Press reports that with Republican majorities in both houses of Congress, the Amendment might actually pass.

The proposed one-line amendment to the Constitution reads, "The Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States." For the language to be added to the Constitution, it must be approved by two-thirds of those present in each chamber, then ratified within seven years by at least 38 state legislatures.

The amendment is designed to overturn a 5-4 Supreme Court ruling in 1989 that flag burning is a protected free-speech right. That ruling threw out a 1968 federal statute as well as flag-protection laws in 48 states. The law was a response to anti-Vietnam War protesters setting fire to American flags at demonstrations.

No, no, no, no! Chipping away at the First Amendment is an idiotic idea. Flag burning, while detestable, should be protected free speech. Anyone who supports a ban cannot possible support the First Amendment.

As a patriot, I hate flag burning as much as the next guy. It's not surprise that it's unpopular. But unpopular speech is the exact kind of speech that the First Amendment is meant to protect. And as long as a person is burning their own flag and not causing a fire hazard to anyone else, the practice should remain legal. Throwing someone in jail for buring a red white and blue piece of fabric is tyranny, whether you make it legal or not.

And desecration is highly subjective. Proper flag disposal calls for burning, burial, or destruction of the flag thread by thread. Would the local VFW be subject to arrest for putting a haggard flag to rest?

This is a very slippery slope? What's next, bibles? Korans?

UPDATE: Neal says that a better Amendment would say that "neither the federal government, nor any state or local government can make any action a crime unless that action serves or conspires to deny to some individual their right to life, liberty or property through force or fraud."