Sen. Bennett cast one of the deciding votes against the constitutional amendment banning desecration of the U.S. flag. In a Deseret Morning News article he is quoted as saying, "If the public doesn't like that decision, they can always change me." This is definitely true and it may hurt him in getting re-elected, however, I think more importantly is that there may be a time in the future where he absolutely needs Sen. Hatch's support and Hatch may be less willing to support him at that time.
Politics is always a game of give and take. Anytime I hear somebody say that they voted against something because theirs is a better idea, I wonder if they understand the give and take of politics.
Sen. Bennett, work with Hatch. To me it seems that the other options of preventing flag burning have been attempted. The other attempts only led to the Supreme Court saying it was unconstitutional. How much tax-payer money do you want to spend to try your idea through the court system? A constitutional amendment seems like a low-cost alternative. Spend my money wisely, please.
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6 comments:
I'm sure glad he did not give this time. The flag ammendment is a bad idea. Good for Senator Bennett, the only decent Senator we have.
Utah Republicans, do you really need a law, or a constitutinal ammendment to tell you how you feel about the flag?
Misplaced and misdirected. We have more important issues, flag burning just isn't one of them.
Senator Bennett thinks we need a law to protect the flag. That's why he has his own version of it.
Keep posting anonymously though, that helps me feel better about not taking your comments seriously.
I am not anonymous, but I agree with him. I am a Utah Republican, and I happily vote for Senator Bennett every 6 years! I think he is doing a great job representing me. I rank him at the top of our delegation. I, personally, respect the constitution too much to amend it willy-nilly. Are we in any way threatened by flag burning? I don't think so. I find the practice abhorent, but a lot of protected speech is abhorent. I think losing our right to disagree with our govenrment and protest each others' and the government's actions is too valuable. So, I think flag burning is bad, but I also think if you want to do it, I want to be able to tell you how angry it makes me. I also find the practice of voting in favor of something you don't support just so you can call in favors later abhorent and dishonest, and I am glad that Senator Bennett stood his ground. I appreciate his integrity in this matter. I guess we'll have to disagee. Isn't free speech great?
Whether or not he understands "the give and take of politics", I'd rather see him understand the basic tenets of integrity, and see more integrity spreading throughout our public offices than politics. (Whether that had anything to do with his voting decision, I have no idea, but I just had to point that out.)
BTW, there's nothing "low-cost" about an amendment to this nation's highest document of law that scales back the first amendment freedoms of speech (i.e., the right to disagree with and protest our government) for nothing more than the mandation of respect for a symbol. Granted, flag-burning is an inflamatory grandstanding manner of grabbing attention (and one that gets no respect from me), but that's all it is (assuming private property and public safety are respected, etc.), and making it into anything more is no better than the simple oppression of expression of opinion.
I guess Bennett got sick of looking like Hatch's lapdog. Almost always the two vote exactly the same. The question comes to mind, do Senators representing the same constituents always have to agree? Are we helped when such a controversial issue for the public is not controversial on the Senate floor?
My two cents: Our energy is better spent pushing changes with real, measurable, results. How is a flag-burning amendement going to be enforced in a way that doesn't violate a whole litany of other rights?
30 years ago Hatch, a carpetbagger from Pennsylvania, came to Utah and told us all Frank Moss had been in too long and we needed a change. Moss was one of the best we ever had. Now it is time to tell Hatch to retire to his home in Summit County, watch the sun set and write more music. Maybe a cowboy song about his life and loss to Pete Ashdown in 2006.
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