God Bless Nancy Pelosi for Broaching the Unthinkable: A War Tax!

Nancy Pelosi has broached a heretofore almost unmentionable subject - that the US should actually pay for its wars instead of just adding the cost of them to the deficit and hence the national debt. Barack Obama has proposed sending 34,000 more troops to Afghanistan at a cost of $1 million per troop per year. At a time when Congress fusses over a few billion dollars for health care and has the Congressional Budget Office "score" every alternative health care reform bill, the novel idea of actually paying for war raises its ugly head thanks to Nancy Pelosi. What a refreshing breath of fresh air!  

Speaker of the House and California Democratic Congresswoman Nancy Pelosi is keeping the door open for the possibility of a war tax to help for the war in Afghanistan. Digital Journal reported last week that three Democrats introduced a new tax that would go directly to the war in Afghanistan called “Share the Sacrifice Act.” On Tuesday, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi kept the door open to a proposal by key Democrats to institute a war surtax to help pay for the war in Afghanistan, according to CNN. While she was quite vague on the subject, she issued her concerns among fellow Congressional Democrats and economic writers in a conference call about the costs of the war, “But let me say that there is serious unrest in our Caucus about can we afford this war?" In addition to Appropriations Committee Chairman Wisconsin Congressman Dave Obey, Defense Appropriations Subcommittee John Murtha of Pennsylvania and Connecticut Democratic Caucus Chairman John Larsen, several other Democratic leaders have co-sponsored the bill such as New York Democratic Congressman Charlie Rangel and Massachusetts Democratic Congressman Barney Frank. Michigan Democratic Senator Carl Levin, Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee recently said he has endorsed the idea to pay for the war. The Chicago Tribune reports Obey iterated that he feels the war in Afghanistan will cost over $1 trillion over the next ten years, “Now, the president is being asked to consider an enlarged counterinsurgency effort in Afghanistan. ... But unlike the health care bill, that would not be paid for. We believe that's wrong." The Los Angeles Times notes that the government would instigate a 1 per cent surtax on people earning less than $150,000 and it would affect people making as little as $22,000. Military personnel who have been enlisted in the armed forces since September 11, 2001 and their families would be exempt from the surtax. According to CNN, President Barack Obama will make a formal announcement on his United States troop strategy in Afghanistan on Tuesday at the US Military Academy at West Point, New York, which the White House spokesperson Robert Gibbs confirmed.

Conservatives are all up in arms because Obama is running a deficit. Where were they when Reagan quadrupled the national debt from $1 trillion to $4 trillion? Where were they when Bush Sr added another trillion to the debt. And where were they when Bush Jr added $5 trillion to the national debt by giving tax breaks to the rich, not paying for the Medicare prescription drug benefit, which was a giveaway to the drug corporations, and not paying for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? In fact the only President in the last 30 years that actually ran budget surpluses was Bill Clinton, a Democrat.

So conservatives and tea baggers where was your outrage when "conservative" Presidents ran the economy into the ground by running up huge deficits? Then Bush Jr handed Obama a crisis of astronomical proportions which cried out for deficit spending and now he gets criticized for that. If we are not going to hand huge debts to our children, then we should actually pay for war. It's as simple as that. We're asking our young people to sacrifice for the sake of war by giving their lives or being maimed for life. Where's the sacrifice on the part of everyday Americans not in the armed services? Nancy Pelosi is right to call them on this. They are all for pay as you go except when it comes to war. Then we must write a blank check. When it comes to something that might actually benefit the American people like health care reform, they get all up in arms about adding a penny to the deficit. When it comes to war, they're all for borrow and spend. In fact Republican Presidents for the last 30 years have been the biggest borrow and spenders of all time resulting in the economic fiasco that we're now experiencing. It's time to tax and spend ... FOR WAR!!

To boot Republicans and conservatives have been responsible for outsourcing our good jobs to China and India with the result that we've built up huge trade deficits with China, a Communist country. To be fair Clinton had his hand in this also with the passage of NAFTA and CAFTA, but it was at the behest of Republicans and conservatives. It turns out that Ross Perot was right about that "giant sucking sound" sucking our jobs to Mexico, China - wherever labor was cheaper. But conservatives don't seem concerned about the fact that the US is now in hock to a communist country. Nevertheless, they're all up in arms about socialism. God forbid that we should become like our European NATO allies and become socialistic. It's OK to be in debt to communists, but we can't afford to go down the road of countries we're most closely allied with. Give me a break! These conservatives and tea baggers completely have their heads up their collective asses! Their case is so riddled with contradictions that it is hard to find even a grain of truth or integrity in their protestations.

Nancy Pelosi at least has the balls to consider doing the right thing. If they are going to hold Obama's feet to the fire and insist that every last band-aid be paid for when it comes to health care, it's only right and consistent to insist on the same logic when it comes to war. Therefore, a war tax is highly in order. Then we'll see how much conservatives like war when they find out their taxes will be raised to actually pay for it. Shared sacrifice, yeah, what a refreshing idea!