FLAG (CONT)

two protesters ran onto the field and tried to burn a flag," he wrote. "How utterly, beautifully American a response!"

What's important to remember is that the flag stands as a symbol of the freedoms we sometimes take for granted, which include the right to use the flag in a symbolic manner. It is, as Paul K. McMasters, a former journalist and the First Amendment ombudsman at the Washington-based Freedom Forum, wrote in the fall, "a communicative presence unparalleled in its eloquence."

"It expresses pride, passion and patriotism," he wrote, "whether held high in battle, presiding solemnly over state occasions, or helping raise a citizen's voice in praise or protest."

Because of this, he says, the burning of the flag is an act of political speech protected by the First Amendment.

"It is a uniquely American right to speak through our flag," he wrote. "It is not the government's right to prohibit or punish such speech, regardless of its intent or message. Nor is it the majority's right to silence that speaker.

"It would be uniquely un-American to erase this revered principle from our democratic heritage."

Hank Kalet is managing editor of the South Brunswick Post and The Cranbury Press.

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