Why I am Burning the Flag

The president does not get to say what the law is; that is solely the province of the judiciary.¹ He must be reminded that his political enemies are not military enemies, and that he cannot stop free speech, expression, and democracy. Many of us, including myself, signed the dotted line and agreed to fight for these ideals. The actions this president has taken, between deploying troops to "war zone" cities² and planning to use the military against dissenters who he terms the "enemy within"³ are far more disrespectful to the sacrifices of current and former servicemembers than any flag burning, which has long been settled as protected speech.⁴ The president does not get to overturn that precedent with an EO, and his attempts to intimidate dissenters and chill speech is disgraceful. The true desecration of our flag has come from the Oval Office.

This symbolic act is meant to i) show that we still have agency and can disobey and ignore threats from a wannabe dictator and ii) to call attention to the existential threats to our democracy we currently face. All citizens must take a stand at this moment.

He is attempting to jail his enemies.⁵ He is attempting to quell dissent by issuing Executive Orders intended to chill free speech, such as the anti-flag burning EO.⁶ He is declaring standard political beliefs to be terroristic thought crimes through NSPM-7.⁷ Yet it is he who fomented and led a violent, terroristic insurrection to overthrow our democracy,⁸ and now he will not commit to leaving office at the end of his term.⁹ He is illegally deporting lawful permanent residents for protesting the genocide in Gaza and others for having the audacity to question his authority.¹⁰ He is disappearing people – human beings with families and loved ones – without due process.¹¹ He is flouting international law daily in our name,¹² murdering individuals without trial on the high seas,¹³ and is abandoning the military rules of engagement that prevent war crimes.¹⁴

He has unveiled a plan to commit crimes against humanity in Gaza so he can build a casino in the "riviera of the Middle East."¹⁵ He has expressed praise and admiration for fascists, enemies of freedom, and authoritarians like Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong Un, and Viktor Orbán,¹⁶ and he has declared that being against fascism is terrorism.¹⁷ He has fired the top JAG officers so he can install yes-men to approve his illegal and immoral military actions.¹⁸ He has threatened to defund and occupy a city for exercising its hard fought right to vote and choose its leader,¹⁹ the most fundamental of rights which my comrades (including members of my family) fought, bled, and died for across numerous generations. He has fomented more hate than any president in modern history, and perhaps ever. He wants to destroy our nation's ideals for his own personal gain and to secure his power.

Military members of good conscience should resign in protest rather than continuing to enable this tyranny, or at the very least resist these illegal orders. Nobody should join the military or work for the government during this administration. Judges must check the power of the executive, the branch's core function and greatest threat to our nation in the views of the Framers.²⁰ Congress must reclaim its control over the declaration of war and use its power of the purse to ensure laws like the Posse Comitatus Act and War Powers Act are complied with. Citizens must not lose heart and must act to reclaim our country, and when this administration is gone, those within it who enabled the deprivation of our rights, violations of our laws, violence against our communities, and desecration of our ideals must be held to account, including through the criminal justice system.²¹ The president does not get to say what the law is.

-Kirk Wolff

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