The nation mourns the loss of another 30 of our heroes as they were responding to a call for help from some of their special forces brethren. These people are the best of the best. They are a national treasure. But they were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to help their compatriots and their nation.
My parents sacrificed during World War II. While my father fought, my mother worked in the factories, and my grandfather went up and down the streets collecting scrap for the war effort. Everyone shared in the sacrifice, doing without many of the basics of life while growing victory gardens. Even the rich sacrificed, supporting the war effort financially by giving up 91% of their income.
The rich paid 90% tax rates during the Korean War and during the long Vietnam War, while the half a million casualties were spread among the families of all Americans. Because of the draft and because of our tax policies, everyone shared in the sacrifice.
When we were attacked on 9/11 everyone was willing to sacrifice. We all would have been willing to give up our way of life and pay more in taxes at that time, for the good of the nation, but we were not asked to sacrifice. We were told to go shopping.
Now we have a volunteer military. Most people join the military for economic reasons. These kids can't get jobs, or education, or training, so they turn to the military. Now it is mostly the poor from rural areas that make the ultimate sacrifice for our nation.
In past wars, our soldiers would be asked to endure one or two tours of duty, to discharge their debt to society. Some of these heroes that just died, were on their tenth tour of duty. They and their families are sacrificing more than previous generations. What are the rest of us sacrificing?
One of the wars we are still fighting, was an unnecessary war of choice. It had nothing to do with terrorism or 9/11. It was about oil. Were we asked to sacrifice our addiction to oil? Were we asked to curtail our driving? No we were urged to drive bigger and even more wasteful SUV's.
While people in previous wars were asked to sacrifice by paying for those wars with higher taxes, we received tax breaks, and the wars and the tax breaks were both put on the credit card.
The rich were not asked to pay 90% as in previous wars, the rich received the majority of the tax cuts so today they only pay 17% of their income.
Borrowing all of that money to pay for doubling of the military and the huge tax cuts, have now caused an economic crisis in the nation, that is perhaps more harmful than anything that Al Queda has done. Now just as only the poor are being asked to shed their blood for the country, only the poor, the infirm and the aged are being asked to sacrifice to solve our economic crisis. Those who control 90% of the wealth in the country, those most able to solve the crisis, are being showered with even more tax cuts, so they can live in even greater luxury.
Tax rates haven't been this low since 1950, and income inequality has never been this bad before. The rich have gotten far far richer and the poor have gotten poorer. Because the rich refuse to pay their fair share, our nation, which was once the greatest nation in the world, is declining and can no longer compete in the world.
It is shameful for the rich to shirk their patriotic duty, to sacrifice to repay the nation that allowed them to prosper. They owe a debt to their nation, but they are refusing and instead wallow in greed and opulence while the rest of the nation suffers.
It is unpatriotic for the rich to shirk their financial duty, to share in the sacrifice and to help their nation when it is most in need, and they are the only ones that can help the nation now, because the poor and the middle class have already sacrificed all they can.
It is time for the rich and the corporations, who are making record profits, to sacrifice to save the nation in its direst time of need. It is the patriotic duty of the rich to pay their fair share.
It is our patriotic duty to vote out any politician that has made a pledge not to pay for the wars they voted for. It is our patriotic duty to throw out those who have been bribed by the greedy rich and the corporations, to protect their opulent lifestyles while the rest of the nation suffers.
It is our duty to throw out any unpatriotic politician that refuses to renounce their pledge not to pay for the wars they demanded.