Date: Sat, 6 Feb 1999 16:57:44 -0500 (EST)
Message-Id: <199902062157.QAA09094@belmonte.ne.mediaone.net>
From: belmonte@mit.edu (Matthew Belmonte)
To: CapuanoHR8@aol.com
Subject: oppose flag desecration amendment

I write as your constituent to express my opposition to the proposed
Constitutional amendment that would prohibit desecration of the flag.  Such a
policy addressing a concrete symbol of the nation does not belong in the
Constitution side by side with articles that address abstract and general
properties of government.  It flies in the face of the First Amendment, and
suggests that the principles on which the United States was founded are too
weak to withstand assaults on a mere symbol.