It's a good thing that you love your country. I'm willing to bet, too, that one of the things you value most highly about this country is the protections that are offered to political speech. The right to have a single voice heard, the right to bring about political change. All of these things are included in the pride that we can take in this country. Because no matter how well any of us love this country, we all can see many things that need to be changed. Things like poverty, homelessness, racism, police brutality, etc., and those are the kinds of things that can be changed through a variety of means.

One of those means is political expression -- one of the hallmarks of American freedoms. So you might disagree with the way that the message is presented, but I'll bet that if you sit down and really think it through, the very fact that we have the right to express political ideas through such means as speech and marching and protesting and, for example, burning flags, is what you love about this country.

So I'm sure that you believe that there are things that could be changed about the United States. I'm sure that you believe that individuals can make a difference, sometimes through art, sometimes through music and sometimes through startling political expression. That's why I'm sure that ultimately you agree with their right to burn a flag as a means of political expression, even if you wouldn't do it yourself.

And I'm also willing to bet that most people wouldn't go to the trouble of political expression through art or music if they didn't really care a lot about the country whose policies they would like to reform.

Typically, the message that is being sent in any flag burning is this: We may as well burn the flag because the virtues for which the flag stands have been so deeply undermined.

It doesn't mean "down with America," it means "America needs to change" or "America needs to realize her vision." And that's a message I think we can all get behind.

Peace.