Trump said in his rally that he wants Congress to pass a law putting people in prison for burning the flag. This is horrifying & infuriating. We now have two candidates in 2020 who do not support full unabridged free speech.

THREAD:

The right to burn the flag is actually everything our flag stands FOR. Without the constitutional rights that our flag represents, it would be nothing more than fabric. It is your right to burn the flag — and it is my right to say you’re an asshole if you do!

We now have two sides and two parties looking to instill their version of blasphemy laws — “hate speech” and flag burning. Two sides who want to chip away at the First Amendment. They just disagree on *which* freedoms to ban.

The First Amendment will not disappear one day. It will be slowly chipped away at over time. People are more than happy to give up their own rights! Republicans are showing themselves to be total hypocrites and will now have no credibility to talk about the issue of free speech.

Soon someone will burn a Pride flag. And suddenly, Democrats will say it’s criminal hate speech, and Republicans will day it’s free speech.

THIS is what happens when a society rewards situational tribalism and frowns upon universal principles. We are a society without principle.

This speaks to the dumbing down of our culture. Everyone is afraid to support someone’s *right* to do something, because they’ll be accused of actually supporting that thing. People pretend to not get the difference. Many of you will pretend that this means I love flag burning…

Nobody wants to support the right of “hate speech” or flag burning. But you have to. You probably hate flag burning. So do I. Doesn’t matter! Rights were not made for only the things we approve of.

I’m not too worried about this becoming law. I’m MUCH more concerned that this will get adopted & repeated by Republican sycophants, and it will become a mainstream view on the right. And then we will have two sides that are against free speech. Then what?!

How can a free country sustain itself when the only rights people want are the ones they personally approve of, and the only free speech people want, is their own?