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Should a top federal official who flagrantly violates
the law of the land be allowed to wrap himself in the flag? That’s what a guy named Ronald Meisburg is
doing. Appointed by President George W. Bush in 2005 to be general counsel
to the National Labor Relations Board, this former corporate lawyer has
been an unabashed basher of unionization. After the labor board’s own
employees voted to be represented by a union, Meisburg simply refused to
bargain with the union — a weird position for someone responsible for
promoting good labor relations. It gets weirder. The union took Meisburg before an
administrative law judge, who ruled that his refusal to bargain violated
the law. Still, the lawyer for the labor agency has refused to comply,
thumbing his nose at the judge and at one of the core laws he is sworn to
uphold. Now, going from weird to warped, Meisburg has decreed
that the agency’s employees must carry an American flag to every
gathering where they oversee unionization elections. He asserts that the
presence of the flag will impress the workers who vote in these elections
with the solemnity of the law. Meanwhile, this legal sharpie who doesn’t seem
to like laws has laid down the law on the most picayune details of
choosing, transporting, and displaying the flag. He specifies the size of
the flag to be used, requires regional offices to purchase three-wheeled
luggage carriers for them, mandates that agency employees undergo training
on handling the flag, and provides a rigid 10-point instruction sheet on
precisely how the flag, flagpole, and flag stand are to be assembled. Meisburg can wrap himself in the flag, but he
can’t hide his disrespect for the rule of law and spirit of electoral
freedom that the flag represents.
Jim Hightower is a national radio commentator,
columnist, and author
This article appears in Feb 21-27, 2008.
