In a memorable scene in “Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith,” Senator Amidala watches as the emperor declares the republic has become an empire. As the senate erupts in cheers, she remarks, “So this is how liberty dies, with thunderous applause.”

Last week, the U.S. House proved that liberty can die in silence as well.

To relatively little media fanfare, the House approved a constitutional amendment that would prohibit desecration of the flag of the United States. The vote goes now to the Senate, where it will require a two-thirds majority to pass, and then face ratification from the states.

So what’s the big deal? Who cares if our government wants to crack down on a few hippie protestors and artists whose taste is sometimes superseded by their rebelliousness?

To put it simply, the Constitution, Bill of Rights and amendments were created to give rights to American citizens – not to take them away. The 14th Amendment, for example, provides citizenship rights to slaves freed by the Emancipation Proclamation. The 19th Amendment grants women the right to vote.

In fact, only one other amendment in America’s history was intended to take something away from Americans: the 18th Amendment. Those of you who know your history might know that it prohibited the consumption of alcohol in 1919. Those of you who know your alcohol might know it was repealed by the 21st Amendment in 1933.

Aside from the troubling historical precedent, the proposed flag amendment is remarkably ambiguous, despite its simple appearance. It reads simply: “Congress shall have power to prohibit the physical desecration of the flag of the United States.”

This leaves a lot of questions. What, for example, is “desecration?” Clearly, this amendment is meant to target Americans who burn the flag as a sign of protest. But what about the Average Joe who bought one of those mini-flags after 9-11 to hang out his car window and has let it get torn by the wind? Or a protestor who wears a do-rag in the style of an American flag? What if it’s not worn by a protester but by a patriotic country music singer? What if you have a shirt with the flag on it? Is that desecration? What if the shirt gets a hole?

And if you think those are confusing possibilities, what would this amendment do to someone who burns a flag with only 49 stars on it? Certainly the image is no less striking, and no less offensive. But the flag would not be the flag of the United States, so it could presumably be burned with impunity.

To be sure, this is a topic that inflames emotions. With 9-11 still fresh in the public conscience, and with many of us having friends and relatives currently in or newly returned from Iraq and Afghanistan, one of the last things we want to see is the symbol of what they’re fighting for destroyed. But we certainly do not want to see the freedoms for which they fight taken away.

No one likes to see our flag burned. But it would be the greatest irony to protect the symbol of our freedoms by taking away one of the very freedoms that it represents.

Only a Sith would want to do that.

Columns reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily that of the Northern Star staff.