Rightwing Republicans, the American Legion, and members of the U.S. military have killed a bipartisan measure to present flags at the funerals of federal workers killed in the line of duty. (Note: Not killed by disease; not killed in accidents; not killed by themselves.) According to the Washington Post, Rep. Richard L. Hanna (R-N.Y.), a sponsor of the bill, said: “The American flag embodies the values of our nation that these individuals worked to uphold. This legislation would provide a modest, but significant, benefit in honor of these dedicated individuals who sacrificed on our behalf.”
His party — a wing of which calls the bill “The Flags for Bureaucrats Act” — obviously doesn’t agree. The blog site “Redstate.com” says that providing the flag to civilians means “it becomes just another trapping of power from the federal government available to all those people in the ever expanding federal bureaucracy.”
The Legion’s “national commander,” Fang Wong, claimed: “Civil service workers do not sign a pledge to defend America with their lives.” The Legion further claimed that “the bill is a misguided attempt to equate civil service with military service.”
The oath civilians swear says they will “support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.” Who gave one party and one branch of government exclusive rights over the flag?