Freedom Isn't Free

I don't get it. I often see the sticker with the slogan "Freedom isn't free!" on cars arrayed with "Bush '04" and "Support our Troops" stickers.

Yet, the President refuses to increase taxes to pay for the war in Iraq or efforts to protect our borders . Just today, we learned that Bush's budget proposal has cut funds for the 2,000 additional border agents required by the National Intelligence Reform Act that congress passed last December. (As I recall, this element was added to the bill as a last minute concession to the conservative Republican holdouts that held up passage of the act. Two months later we find that he never had any intention of funding this portion of the measure.)

Of course, Bush's credit card approach to government has been exacerbated by the hundreds of billions of dollars in tax cuts granted to the wealthiest Americans that he now wants to make those cuts permanent. Meanwhile, Americans currently pay the lowest rate of taxes of the world's twenty seven developed nations (this according to Peter Peterson, a lifelong Republican and former Secretary of Commerce under President Nixon). The U.S. pays less that 2% of its GDP in taxes every year. . . as compared to most industrialized countries 4%.

This hypocrisy reveals the true motives of our president and the gullibility of our voters. Even if you oppose this War on Iraq (not to be confused with the War on Terror) as I do, for the sake of our country and our children's children, let's pay our fair share of the cost of Freedom and the privileges we enjoy as American citizens. The cost is well worth it.