Mr. WATT of North Carolina. Madam
Speaker, I yield 4 minutes to the gentleman
from Texas (Mr. PAUL).
(Mr. PAUL asked and was given permission
to revise and extend his remarks.)
1999 Ron Paul 66:1 Mr. PAUL.
Madam Speaker, I thank
the gentleman for yielding me the
time.
1999 Ron Paul 66:2 Madam Speaker, I rise in opposition
to this amendment. I have myself
served 5 years in the military, and I
have great respect for the symbol of
our freedom. I salute the flag, and I
pledge to the flag. But I served my
country to protect our freedoms and to
protect our Constitution. I believe very
sincerely that today we are undermining
to some degree that freedom
that we have had all these many years.
1999 Ron Paul 66:3 We have not had a law against flag
desecration in the 212 years of our constitutional
history. So I do not see
where it is necessary. We have some
misfits on occasion burn the flag,
which we all despise. But to now
change the ability for some people to
express themselves and to challenge
the First Amendment, I think we
should not do this carelessly.
1999 Ron Paul 66:4 Let me just emphasize how the first
amendment is written. “Congress shall
write no law.” That was the spirit of
our Nation at that time. “Congress
shall write no laws.”
1999 Ron Paul 66:5 We have written a lot of laws since
then. But every time we write a law to
enforce a law, we imply that somebody
has to arrive with a gun, because if you
desecrate the flag, you have to punish
that person. So how do you do that?
You send an agent of the government
to arrest him and it is done with a gun.
This is in many ways patriotism with a
gun. So if you are not a patriot, you
are assumed not to be a patriot and
you are doing this, we will send somebody
to arrest them.
1999 Ron Paul 66:6 It is assumed that many in the military
who fought, but I think the gentleman
from North Carolina pointed
out aptly that some who have been
great heroes in war can be on either
side of this issue. I would like to read
a quote from a past national commander
of the American Legion, Keith
Kreul. He said:
1999 Ron Paul 66:7
Our Nation was not founded on devotion to
symbolic idols, but on principles, beliefs and
ideals expressed in the Constitution and its
Bill of Rights. American veterans who have
protected our banner in battle have not done
so to protect a golden calf. Instead, they carried
the banner forward with reverence for
what it represents, our beliefs and freedom
for all. Therein lies the beauty of our flag. A
patriot cannot be created by legislation.
1999 Ron Paul 66:8 I think that is what we are trying to
do. Out of our frustration and exasperation
and our feeling of helplessness
when we see this happen, we feel like
we must do something. But I think
most of the time when we see flag
burning on television, it is not by
American citizens, it is done too often
by foreigners who have strong objection
to what we do overseas. That is
when I see it on television and that is
when I get rather annoyed.
1999 Ron Paul 66:9 I want to emphasize once again that
one of the very first laws that Red
China passed on Hong Kong was to
make flag burning illegal. The very
first law by Red China on Hong Kong
was to make sure they had a law on the
books like this. Since that time they
have prosecuted some individuals. Our
State Department tallies this, keeps
records of this as a human rights violation,
that if they burn the flag, they
are violating human rights. Our State
Department reports it to our Congress
as they did in April of this year and
those violations are used against Red
China in the argument that they
should not gain most-favored-nation
status. There is just a bit of hypocrisy
here, if they think that this law will do
so much good and yet we are so critical
of it when Red China does it.
1999 Ron Paul 66:10 We must be interested in the spirit of
our Constitution. We must be interested
in the principles of liberty. We
should not be careless in accepting this
approach to enforce a sense of patriotism.
Notes:
1999 Ron Paul 66:1
Madam Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding me the time. Here, Ron Paul thanks The Honorable Melvin L. Watt of North Carolina.
1999 Ron Paul 66:4
the first amendment probably should be capitalized: First Amendment.
1999 Ron Paul 66:6
It is assumed that many in the military who fought, but I think the gentleman from North Carolina pointed out aptly that some who have been great heroes in war can be on either side of this issue.
This sentence is defective, since it should say, between fought and but just what is assumed. One possible explanation is that Ron Paul meant,
It is assumed that many in the military who fought supportthisproposedamendment, but I think the gentleman from North Carolina pointed out aptly that some who have been great heroes in war can be on either side of this issue.
1999 Ron Paul 66:9
Our State Department tallies this, keeps records of this as a human rights violation, that if they burn the flag, they are violating human rights.
Here, Ron Paul apparently misspeaks. Perhaps he meant,
Our State Department tallies this, keeps records of this as a human rights
violation, that if they areprosecutedbecausethey burn the flag, they (the Red Chinese government) are violating human rights.
