Mr. GOSS. Mr. Speaker, I yield 3
minutes to the distinguished gentleman
from Texas (Mr. PAUL).
(Mr. PAUL asked and was given permission
to revise and extend his remarks.)
1999 Ron Paul 65:1 Mr. PAUL.
Mr. Speaker, I appreciate
the comments of the gentleman from
California earlier that said that those
of us who oppose this amendment
should not be challenged on our patriotism.
That certainly should be true.
But I do rise in support of the rule because
obviously it is constitutional to
amend the Constitution; that we cannot
object to. But I do have questions
about what we are doing to the spirit
of America, the spirit of the Constitution
in a desire to protect a symbol.
1999 Ron Paul 65:2 Not too long ago Hong Kong was
taken over by Red China. The very
first law that Red China passed on
Hong Kong was to make it illegal to
burn a flag. The first time Hong Kong
ever had that law, the British do not
have a law like this. Red China, as soon
as they took over Hong Kong, they pass
a law to make it illegal to burn a flag.
1999 Ron Paul 65:3 But it does not stop there. On an annual
basis we, the Congress, require the
State Department to report to us any
human rights violations around the
world. The human rights violations in
Red China are used specifically to decide
whether or not they will get Most
Favored Nation status. Last year, in
1998, the report came to the Congress
in April of this year, and it reported
that indeed there were violations of
human rights. What were the human
rights violations that we are condemning
by this report and we are
going to use against the Red Chinese?
Two individuals burned the Hong Kong
or the Red Chinese flag.
1999 Ron Paul 65:4 I think it is just a little bit hypocritical
if we want to claim the Red
Chinese are violating human rights because
somebody there burned the flag
at the same time we intend to pass
that law here.
1999 Ron Paul 65:5 The spirit of the Constitution did not
require this. We have had 212 years of
our history since the Constitution was
passed. We have not had this pass. We
have not required this. Where is the
epidemic? I cannot remember ever seeing,
and of course I am sure it has been
on television where an American citizen
burned the flag. It must happen; it
will happen again. As a matter of fact,
it will probably happen more often because
there will be more attention
given to it once this law is passed.
1999 Ron Paul 65:6 Where I see the burning of the American
flag, where I get outraged is when
the foreigners are doing it because they
are so defiant about our policies
around the world. But that is a lot different.
We are not dealing with that
hatred toward America that we are
dealing with here.
1999 Ron Paul 65:7 We are dealing with a few deranged
individuals that were willing to challenge
the spirit of the Constitution.
They say this is not free speech, but it
is indeed expression, just as religion is,
just as the study of philosophy is, just
as our personal convictions. To say
that this is not protected under the
Constitution, the current Constitution,
I think is quite wrong. I think we do
protect that.
1999 Ron Paul 65:8 And, yes, one would say this is egregious,
this is horrible, to burn this flag.
But that is the purpose of the first
amendment, to protect obnoxious and
uncomfortable speech.
Note:
1999 Ron Paul 65:8
the first amendment probably should be capitalized: the First Amendment.
