Enemies on All Sides

Apparently the government feels that Americans have too much freedom. The maniac conservatives of the U.S. House want to amend the Constitution to outlaw flag burning, and the liberal wing of the Supreme Court has okayed the seizure of private homes to build Home Depots.

The Supreme Court decision at least has the possibility of a political solution. If enough people piss and moan about municipalities' crusades to turn urban blight into suburban sprawl, cities may lay off and people may get to keep their houses. But the constitutional amendment, well, yeah.

I can only hope that if conservatives keep trying to mess around with the Constitution, the base of trendy War on Terror conservatives will come to their senses and start supporting moderates again. On the off chance that this thing makes it through the Senate, it will be an opportunity to see if liberals have learned anything from Karl Rove. If the maniacs successfully frame the issue as patriots vs. flag-burners (with reliable support from Fox News and all that), they'll win. If opponents of the amendment can successfully spread the message that dissenting speech is itself patriotic, and Americans should be trusted to express themselves however the choose, they'll have shot. But I honestly believe that the amendment will fail in the Senate, though it certainly has a better chance now than it ever had in the sixteen years since the Johnson case.

Also, without re-opening the tumultuous procedural constitution argument from way-back-when, I'll just point out that the only other constitutional amendment that imposed a net restriction (as opposed to expansion) of individual freedom was Prohibition, and we all know how that turned out.