Wars Cost Money Too

Lots of money, in fact. And despite what hawks and neocons would have you believe, they cannot be paid for with magic money the war fairies leave under our pillows at night. Therefore, it's encouraging that a growing group of Democrats in the House are insisting we find a way to pay for the upcoming escalation of the war in Afghanistan.

At the moment, the most developed proposal would be a surtax on the incomes of the wealthiest-ish Americans, with veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and their families being exempted. This idea obviously needs some work, but it's an important first step in what I hope will be a fundamental altering of the way we discuss foreign policy in this country.

Necons like to say Obama doesn't know how to be a "War President," but I can think of no better way for him to provide leadership than to call upon all Americans to sacrifice in some way. Since I doubt we're going to reinstate a military draft anytime soon (which I'm for but that's a topic for another post some day), than we can ask the country to give up a chunk of change every two weeks specifically to buy armor and ammunition. It will be a welcome change from the "support the troops by going shopping" mentality that has prevailed over the last nine years.

This proposal would also force several politicians, and the public at large, to put their money where their mouth is. All those deficit hawks who want to expand the war in Afghanistan, and bomb Iran and build missile shields Poland will probably balk at such a proposal and vote against it. That wont surprise me, but at least it will expose them as the hypocrites they are.

As for the American people at large, if they don't want to part with some money to support the war, then maybe they will try to put more pressure on our political leaders to change course. If they still are unwilling to pay more taxes and they favor continued escalation, then they're pretty piss-poor excuses for citizens.