From: Faisal N Jawdat Date: Fri Sep 24, 2004 12:56:03 AM US/Eastern To: letters@washpost.com Subject: ammending the flag To the Editors, Senator John Cornyn explains that if Kerry and Edwards vote against a flag-burning amendment "they're going to have to explain why," (Sep 13, "Kerry, Edwards and Daschle May Face Vote on Flag.") We would like Senator Cornyn to explain why he continues to waste taxpayers' time and money on publicity stunts. If Senators Kerry and Edwards choose to vote against the ammendment, why should they have to explain anything? A vote against the amendment is a vote to keep the United States a different and qualitatively better place from Iran, North Korea, communist China, fascist Italy, and Iraq under Saddam; it is a vote for a country where you are allowed to simultaneously be a dissenter and an idiot in public. Regulation can not prevent dissent, nor should it. Every time someone makes a personal political statement by burning the flag, they make a far greater one as well -- that the United States of America is still the greatest country on Earth, and still the place where freedom reigns. We would hope our representatives in Washington would think more carefully about throwing away the very freedoms we elected them to support and defend. Faisal N. Jawdat