According to a story on CNN, it is now illegal in the town of Pahrump, Nevada, to fly any foreign flag unless the Stars and Stripes is flown above it. The reason for the law, evidently, is revulsion over the sight earlier this year of crowds waving Mexican flags while demonstrating in favor of rights for illegal immigrants.

Let's ignore for the moment that it's monumentally stupid to demand rights and benefits for people who willfully break the law, and that it's even more stupid to spit in the face of your host country by waving another country's flag while doing it. Sadly, I have to admit that I think Pahrump's law is short-sighted and mean-spirited.

I consider myself a patriotic American. I am a veteran of 23 years of military service. I vote and pay taxes. But I also believe in freedom of speech and expression as guaranteed by the Constitution. Of course, as I have said in this space before, freedom of speech and expression is not the same as freedom of smart, and all too many people trumpet free speech without engaging their brains first.

So...

If you want to demand rights for illegal immigrants while waving a Mexican, or any other nation's flag, go right ahead. You're being doubly stupid. But if you're on the other side of the debate, don't limit the right of those people to act like idiots - it just proves the moral and political bankruptcy of their demands.

Have a good day. More thoughts coming.

Bilbo