Flag or veterans - which is priority?

Editorial
Aberdeen American News
Tuesday, April 19, 2005

On April 14, a constitutional amendment was introduced by South Dakota Sen. John Thune that would protect the flag of the United States.

According to the Aberdeen American News, "With so many members of the military serving overseas, now is the time to pass an amendment to protect the flag, Thune said." He also said, "It is a symbol of liberty and freedom that we enjoy today, thanks to the immeasurable sacrifices of generations of Americans who came before us."

This appears to be a grand and noble gesture, but is it when we consider what happened on the floor of the Senate two days earlier?

On April 12 the Senate discussed an emergency appropriation bill of $80.6 billion to continue the operations in Iraq. This item was not included in the annual budget because the administration couldn't estimate the costs in Iraq when the president presented his budget.

An amendment was offered by Sen. Patti Murray from Washington state to add $1.9 billion to ensure every veteran returning from Iraq and Afghanistan has quality health care, boosted funding for mental health care - especially treatment for post traumatic stress disorder, and provided $40 million to each regional VA to open new clinics and hire staff.

There were two votes on this amendment. The first vote said that the veterans health care crisis in not an emergency (Vote No. 89), and the second said that veterans health care is not a priority. (Vote No. 90). Sen. Thune voted with the 53 other Republican Senators who voted against the amendment. Only Sen. Arlen Specter had enough courage to buck his party to show he cared for the veterans. They said this is not the time; this is not the place for fixing the health care system for the veterans who are returning from Iraq and Afghanistan. It is not an emergency nor is it a priority.

It is estimated that one fourth of the returning veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan will suffer from post traumatic stress disorder. To paraphrase Sen. Thune, with so many members of the military serving overseas, now is the time to pass an appropriations bill to improve our veterans' health care.

Don't get me wrong, I love our flag. It is a beautiful flag full of color, tradition and symbolic of the country I love, but I love our veterans more. They deserve priority. Since Thune has not served one day in the uniform of our country, maybe he does not understand the veterans' priorities. I don't know of one veteran who fought for the flag alone. There may be some out there, but the ones I know were just trying to do their job and stay alive to get out and on with the rest of their lives. It is a cruel twist of fate when these men and women who have served so admirably cannot depend on our government to treat their physical or mental injuries when they get home.

We have all been touched by tragedies of Vietnam veterans who suffered untreated PTSD. It may have been a hurting vet who turned to alcohol and caused a fatal accident or an untreated vet who took his own life because he was tired of hurting or turned his anger and hurt on others in a mass killing. Can we afford to turn our backs on another generation of veterans?

Maybe in a time of peace when there are no other problems, protecting the flag would be the top priority, but I happen to believe that the veterans deserve top billing now. "Now is the time" to improve veterans' health care. Sen. Thune has voted three times in the first 100 days of his Senate term to block any increased funding for veterans' health care. Now is the time to get our priorities straight and protect the people who made our flag a meaningful symbol and the integrity of our flag will be preserved.