A constitutional amendment that could have led to a prohibition on burning the American flag stalled in the U.S. Senate this week, one vote short of the necessary two-thirds majority.

As repugnant as flag-burning is, it is also extremely rare, a virtual relic of the politically turbulent 1960s, when U.S. flags, bras and draft cards were incinerated with equal relish.

One wonders, then, why Congress would devote so much time and effort to gain the authority to pass laws against flag burning. The House already passed legislation favoring such an amendment, and all 50 states have supporting resolutions.

Mid-term elections coming up in November have a lot to do with it. Republicans believe they/re losing their grip on congressional seats, and need an emotional issue to separate them from Democrat candidates.

There also is the matter of wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, of which many Americans are growing increasingly weary. A resolution in Congress against flag burning inevitably morphs into a show of support for our troops overseas.

The simple truth is that those troops 7 our sons and daughters, husbands and wives, and neighbors 7 are fighting to protect the freedoms all Americans hold so dear, the ones guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights.

The flag, as a symbol, deserves respect, but of greater importance is the protection of those guaranteed freedoms, including the right to speak freely without fear of government reprisal. The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled, without equivocation, that burning the flag is a form of free speech.

It is exactly the kind of political expression that is protected in the very first amendment to the Constitution, a document that is at the heart of why our troops serve and die in foreign lands.

Members of Congress took a solemn oath to uphold that Constitution, not a cloth symbol. The flag is worthy of our allegiance because it represents the values of a nation that protects every American/s freedoms. The flag is important and to be revered 7 but not at the expense of the freedoms it represents.