To the editor:

This is in response to Ken Toth’s letter on June 5 about flag burning. I understand your dislike for the burning of the flag. I dislike it also. But the Supreme Court has ruled that under the First Amendment it is considered free speech.

When I volunteered for the military during the Vietnam era, I took an oath to “serve and protect the Constitution from all enemies foreign and domestic.” There was no mention of a flag or anthem in that oath.

They are just symbols of our freedom, but that’s not what we took an oath for. When you try to limit someone’s free speech, you are entering the so called “slippery slope” that people like to bring up in the Second Amendment debate: First they will take away someone’s right to protest by burning flags. Then you won’t be able to criticize government.

Then your freedom of the press will be gone, and you know the current occupant of the White House would do that in a minute if he could.

The people that fought in the Revolutionary War were basically protesters, protesting a tyrannical government. There is a reason they put the First Amendment first. Because without the freedoms and Free Press that the First Amendment guarantees, the rest of the Constitution would be worthless.

Think about that. So you may not like it, but if you want to live in a free country you have to allow free speech whether you agree with it or not.