The only real way we can support our troops is to have the ability to pay their salaries and benefits with American Money. It is far past the time when running up foreign debt to pay for our wars and the sacrifices of soldiers if the burden isn't shared by all.

Unlike no other war in the history of the world, we are asked to shoulder the burden not with responsibility or care, but on the backs of low-income Americans often from low economic hope areas. We place yellow ribbons around trees. We put magnets on our SUVs. We bedazzle our license plates with ghosts of our sacred flag. "United we stand" is emblazoned on everything from coffee cups to baby bibs. But what does that mean? Do these hollow phrases ask us all to share the sacrifice? Does it ask us to drive less to leave more petrol for our military? Does it ask us to buy used cars or to recycle more to free up industry to convert to war-supporting operations? No. "United we stand" has gone from the lofty rhetoric of a nation healing from the wounds of the attacks of September 11th to the Republican rallying cry. They defame the definition of "united" to make us more divided.

Nowhere has anyone asked us to make sacrifices in our daily lives for our freedom. It's time this burden is shared. If our leaders see fit that our security as a nation is compromised and requires a military solution, our leaders owe us the respect of asking for our shared sacrifice.

The idea of shared sacrifice is practiced often in humanitarian crisis at home and abroad. When earthquakes level hundreds of square miles we give; when tsunamis devastate whole continents we give; when hurricanes and floods destroy lives, communities and cities we give; when terrorists murder thousands we give. But when our country is fighting wars on multiple fronts we give nothing.

I don't wear a flag pin on my lapel; I wear one on my heart. I try to remember the tremendous sacrifice Americans are making at the direction of our president. We do have one of the finest fighting forces in the world today, but this administration's stubborn naiveté in it's nonacademic prosecution of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq show the vulnerability of a nation ruled by sound bites and slogans.

We again need a leader who can talk outside of an outline and stand in his (or her) own shoes to direct a thoughtful U.S. foreign policy towards a respectful engagement of the international community.

Labels: Afghanistan, Bush Administration, Editorial, Flag, flag pin, Iraq, Justin Schuck, September 11th, U.S. Military, United We Stand, War