🔥 Burn, Baby, Burn: The Supreme Court, the Flag, and the Unintended Consequences of Free Speech
On this day in 1788, the U.S. Constitution officially came into effect when New Hampshire became the ninth state to ratify it, triggering its adoption. (Yes, Constitution Day is marked on September 17 — the date it was signed — but it didn’t actually become the law of the land until today, 237 years ago.)
And on this same date in 1989 — 201 years later to the day — the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that burning the American flag wasn’t a crime, but a constitutional right. Gregory Lee Johnson had burned the flag outside the 1984 Republican National Convention in Dallas while protesting the Reagan administration and corporate power. His group, the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade—viewed his policies as American imperialism and corporate greed. — all while wearing a communist T-shirt and a keffiyeh. Sounds familiar?
It was Texas v. Johnson. A 5–4 majority, led by Justice William J. Brennan Jr, held that even offensive acts like flag burning are protected political speech under the First Amendment. Johnson’s protest — torching a flag outside the 1984 Republican National Convention — was controversial, yes. But Brennan’s majority opinion declared:
“If there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that the government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea offensive or disagreeable.”
The flag — a symbol of the nation — could be burned, so long as the fire was lit in protest. The irony? This ruling came down on the birthday of the very document that protects it.
But here’s the question: Did the Justices in their robes and marble chambers ever imagine that one day the people burning the American flag wouldn’t be disillusioned citizens — but mobs chanting “Death to America” while livestreaming it on TikTok?
Today, radical groups, both foreign and homegrown, have learned how to weaponize the freedoms we cherish. They chant “Death to America,” to “globalize the intifada,” while rooting for Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and the Islamic Republic of Iran, under the First Amendment, waving terror banners in our cities — confident they’ll be protected by the Constitution they spit on. They burn the flag not as protest, but as declaration of war — all while standing safely inside the protections of the very system they aim to dismantle.
Flag desecration wasn’t meant to be foreign policy. It was meant to be a solemn act of domestic defiance — an alarm bell rung from within. Now? It’s become a global ritual of contempt — not a cry for reform, but a call for our destruction.
Yesterday, Mahmoud Khalil was released from ICE detention after posting a $1 bail, despite overwhelming evidence tying him to terrorism material support. Holding a green card is not a guaranteed right — it’s a privilege granted by this country, one that can and should be revoked when an individual threatens national security. Yes, chanting “Death to America” may be protected as free speech under the Constitution, but crossing from words into criminal conduct cannot and must not be tolerated. Our freedoms were never meant to shield those who exploit them to undermine the very nation that grants them.
This is the paradox of liberty: it defends even those who would destroy it.
Burning the flag? That’s free speech.
Seizing university buildings and kidnapping janitors? That’s a crime.
Holding a protest sign on campus? Protected.
Chanting “globalize the intifada” while threatening Jewish students? That’s harassment.
Wearing a keffiyeh in solidarity? Your right.
Surrounding students in libraries, shouting “Zionists don’t belong here”? That’s intimidation.
Calling for a ceasefire? Protected speech.
Calling for a “Death to Zionists and distributing pamphlets from Hamas”? That’s incitement to terrorism.
There’s a difference —
between protest and crime,
between speech and incitement,
between dissent and danger.
And if we pretend not to see it,
We’re not defending freedom.
We’re dismantling it.
Abusing the liberties we have cherished for so long to destroy our nation is their goal. Their chants are clear, their plans are out in the open — what are we waiting for? To watch the Islamic Republic’s regime fall only to see the same ideology take root here, turning America into the “Islamic States of America”? The warning signs are right in front of us. The First Amendment is not a suicide pact. And if we don’t start enforcing the boundary between liberty and lawlessness, we won’t just lose the flag — we’ll lose everything it stands for and protects our rights.
Freedom is resilient — but it’s not invincible.
It must be protected not just from censors and tyrants, but from those who would tear it while hiding behind it.
Burning the flag harms absolutely no one. Yes, it pisses off a lot of people, including me. But I didn’t serve 3½ yrs in the Army to empower someone else to tell me what I can & can’t say.
What’s of far greater importance is how our young people get recruited into thinking the U.S. is a problem rather than a solution. They see an aircraft carrier and think “warmonger,” whereas I think 200K gal/day of fresh water to earthquake victims. When your ass is in a real jam, and you see a unit of soldiers come into view wearing the U.S. flag patch, NOBODY thinks “My day’s REALLY gonna suck now…” (OK, if your first name is Ayatollah, yeah that might be your reaction…)
I reserve my free speech rights to crack skulls and break legs of flag burners