This doesn't mean that, given good cause, we won't gripe or argue about some bonehead legislator or inane bureaucratic policy. One of the greatest freedoms this country provides its citizens is this freedom to exchange ideas, even ones that are critical of the powers that be. It helps our government understand us, it helps us understand our government, and it helps us understand each other.

In fact, I understand my own father a little better now, as we've had a chance to discuss our divergent opinions on the topic of this column. We've learned by now that we're never going to change each other's minds, but we still like to try. It's a freedom I've always had and therefore take for granted, too seldom thinking of those places where such a discourse could land us in prison.

I have considered showing my pride in the USA by getting a flag someday, when I have a place to fly it. I remember from my Boy Scout days that flag ownership carries with it a daunting responsibility replete with handling taboos, precise folding instructions and complicated flying restrictions. Were I to accept this duty, I would study these requirements very thoroughly beforehand.

Now, though, the appeal of owning a flag is starting to dwindle. Our U.S. Congress is contemplating taking away an important freedom the flag stands for - the freedom to use it to express displeasure with the government.

Somehow, I don't think Thomas Jefferson would have agreed to this little twist at the end of the Constitution. I'm sure he felt he settled this question 200 years ago, when he did away with the Sedition Act of 1798. Now, it's the party he helped found that is trying to whittle away at the freedoms he worked so hard to ensure.

What's interesting is that, while all forms of desecration are covered by the proposed amendment, the act of burning the flag has been singled out as the most offensive. Burning, by the way, is also the preferred method of disposing of a flag. When you have an old, tattered flag that you want to throw away, you can take it to your local VFW, where they will burn it in a special ceremony. So it's not really the act of burning a flag that will be illegal, but the intentions of the person setting fire to it. Put that in your constitution and litigate it.

The flag, the argument goes, is more than just a colorful piece of cloth, it's a symbol of our country. I agree with this sentiment. When you go one step further and claim that an attack on a symbol of our country is the same thing as an attack on the country itself, well, there you lose me. The burning of one's own flag on one's own property is a peaceful, symbolic protest, which has always been protected by the Constitution. While someone might be offended by such a display, they have, as of yet, no power to infringe upon the right of another to enact it. That's as it should be.

But if we're headed down the other road, where do we draw the desecration line? That decision will largely be left to politicians at state and local levels. Should we consult our Boy Scout Handbooks and come up with fines or prison terms for letting a flag touch the ground, flying it in a rainstorm, or displaying it upside-down when there's no emergency? Will some states draw up statutes so strict that, out of fear of punishment, the actual display of a flag will become a rare sight? Will more progressive states have legal flag burning zones, and hold fiery festivals to celebrate their advanced senses of freedom?

A check of previous legal descriptions shows that pictures of flags are often given the same respect as the real thing. So where does the US Post Office get off printing those ugly cancellation marks over all those beautiful, flag-bearing stamps? This is a national tragedy that needs to be investigated.

Maybe this amendment is just what we need to force us to respect our government. Lord knows our legislators aren't earning that respect the old-fashioned way. Why should they bother if they can just write it into the Constitution?

Then, every month, as I haul my cancelled stamps to the VFW for proper disposal, I'll look up at Old Glory flying a little less proudly out in front and think, "I used to want one of those."

(At the time this was written, the proposed amendment had passed the House, but it was estimated to be a few votes shy in the Senate.)