Yesterday’s defeat of the flag burning amendment has me deeply conflicted.

On one hand, I am sad to see it go down in flames (so to speak) because it is an important symbol for many people. We fight for it, we rally to it, we pledge to it, and we sing to it.

On the other hand amending the Constitution is a serious endeavor and should not be entered into lightly, like say, Marriage but that’s a whole other can ‘o worms.

On balance, I think I am happy with the result. People shouldn’t burn the flag, it puts you in some really bad company, but a change to the founding documents is too severe an action to pursue.

Update: I just love this bit from Jay Tea @ Wizbang!:

the flag-burners serve a very valuable public service. How else can they so quickly pronounce themselves as ignorant, hateful, irrelevant assholes than by publicly burning a flag? It saves a huge amount of time in weighing whether or not they are worth our time and attention in debating them.