Burning the American flag has been a relevant topic lately, primarily due to a nationwide rash of protests over Donald Trump’s win over Hillary Clinton -- protests that often feature flag-burning.
On Tuesday, Trump sent out a tweet suggesting there should be consequences for burning the American flag:
This predictably caused outrage in the media, as critics insist the right to burn the flag is a "constitutional right" (a claim backed up by two Supreme Court decisions back in 1989 and 1990).
But Trump's suggestion may not be so far out of alignment with the common views of our everyday politicians. In fact, back in 2005, then-Senator Hillary Clinton (D-N.Y.) co-sponsored a bill with Sen. Bob Bennett (R-Utah) called the Flag Protection Act of 2005, which would have criminalized many cases of flag-burning and imposed a maximum one-year jail sentence and $100,000 fine for offenders.
According to the summary, the bill:
amends the federal criminal code to revise provisions regarding desecration of the flag to prohibit: (1) destroying or damaging a U.S. flag with the primary purpose and intent to incite or produce imminent violence or a breach of the peace; (2) intentionally threatening or intimidating any person, or group of persons, by burning a U.S. flag; or (3) stealing or knowingly converting the use of a U.S. flag belonging to the United States, or belonging to another person on U.S. lands, and intentionally destroying or damaging that flag.
The bill, which didn't pass, received backlash among the most liberal news outlets. The New York Times wrote an article at the time entitled, “Senator Clinton, in Pander Mode.”
Arianna Huffington called Clinton's support of the bill a “truly tragic way of leading,” saying, “It seems in line with her stance on so many issues – trying to strike right in the middle and triangulate, by not supporting the amendment because that would upset the base too much and at the same time supporting a legislative proposal that will appeal to the center.”
While there is no mention in the bill of revoking an offender's citizenship, the punishment for burning the flag under Clinton’s bill would have been a year in prison, as Trump suggested.
Although it did not pass, more than half of Senate Democrats supported the bill. And, despite co-sponsoring the bill to criminalize flag burning in 2005, Clinton voted against a constitutional amendment that would criminalize flag burning in 2006.
You can add this to the list of inconsistencies when it comes to Clinton’s record.
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