Flag Desecration Should Be Banned Is it necessary to allow all forms of protest to protect citizens' right to express grievances against their government? It is not a violation of free speech to ban flag burning because it is not speech. This will not lead to the limitation of other avenues of protest, many of which are more expressive of specific issues. All attempts to protect the flag, short of a constitutional amendment, ultimately failed. An amendment to the Constitution to prohibit desecration of the United States flag is a necessary step to protect one of our most sacred national symbols. Over the years, several methods have been tried to protect the flag. In the late 1800s and early 1900s, many states passed laws protecting the flag. There were numerous prosecutions for flag desecration during the Vietnam era and thereafter, until 1984, when the United States Supreme Court declared these laws unconstitutional. The controversy reached its peak in 1989 and 1990, when a federal law to ban flag desecration was passed, later struck down by the Supreme Court. The First Amendment guarantees citizens the right to speak freely, but is the act of burning a flag "speech"? It is a provocative action that should not be protected by a clause intended to ensure that citizens are not repressed in their efforts to express dissatisfaction with the government or its actions. Restricting a person's right to free expression is also not a radically new idea; speaking or writing false information...in the middle of paper...don't believe that the founding fathers imagined that the citizens of this country would want to burn their flag. In conclusion, the right to free speech has never meant people could do whatever they wanted, regardless of its effect, and when that effect is to undermine the integrity and heritage of our great country, we must act. The incendiary act of burning our flag accomplishes nothing except the alienation and devaluation of the rest of us. It is an attack by a citizen on his own country, an act of domestic terrorism. Protecting the flag is not a restriction of free speech, but rather an action to honor our most recognized national symbol. We must act to restore our flag to the position of respect it deserves as an emblem of our nation.