Keeping Promises...or if you brake(sp) it...you bought it...

In every war this great nation has fought, we the people have been asked to make sacrifices of blood and treasure.  Every war except two, the war with Mexico (1846-1848) and the Iraqi war (2003-present):

• Property taxes were raised by the individual colonies to raise money to fight the American Revolution.
• The income tax was first initiated during the Civil War...on the wealthiest 10% of households
• During the first and second world wars, the income tax became the 16th amendment to the Constitution. It expanded the income tax to virtually all Americans... in part to support the war efforts to win victory and secure the lifestyle that we all enjoy.

At the start of the Vietnam war, John F. Kennedy tried to cut taxes while conducting war in southeast Asia.   The staggering costs of the conflict forced the congress to rollback..  then increase taxes to shore up the budget and reduce the deficit.

Here is my question to all of you...WHY SHOULD WE NOT MAKE THE SAME  SACRIFICES our ancestors made?

I recently was reading about my family history in the old Park City, Utah newspaper (the Park record) and found the following:

Note this was the 4th war bond drive...every year you were expected to buy a $200 bond $2400 today...

In addition to income taxes, every American was expected and given a quota of war bonds to purchase.  If you hadn't signed up for your bonds....you were sought out and and visited until you made the commitment to support the war effort. In addition to gasoline rubber and other items were rationed. Americans stood together. Those sacrifices built the worlds greatest democracy and economy. 

How many bonds have you bought?

Today we have been at war eight long years,  thousands of lives and one trillion dollars later, we are not asked (nor are many willing) to buy bonds or pay more taxes......we see this:

My god, we can't even spell
We allowed congress to extend tax cuts....even to the wealthiest among us...
We allowed the passage of a an additional 2 percent cut on our Social security tax..
Rather than reduce the deficit we added another 600 billion...just in December.

What set me over the edge and prompted this blog is the proposal to cut Veterans health care 42% by 2021.

I submit to that we the people have not been at war.  The US armed forces and their families are.  We have selfishly pushed the fight on the 400, 000 service men/women and have gone our merry way for 8 years..Now rather than pay the bill and cough up a few more coins people want to REDUCE by nearly half all veteran..

It is the time to settle that debt.  If we are not willing to at least make the sacrifices (taxes) to take care of our troops...we are hypocrites...our patriotism is not worth the 2 dollars spent on that yellow ribbon we so proudly display in our car bumper

I hate paying taxes as much as the next guy but freedom isn't free...someone has to foot the bill...We cant blame the excesses on presidents or congress...it lies on us..we allowed a war and said charge it...

Is it really a surprise to anyone why we were so united during WW2....and so divided today?

We wonder why

My search for meaning

We are born naked and helpless.  We survive only because of nurturing parents and a loving family who guide us till we are ready to begin our own journey.  Recently a heart attack taught me that when we die, it is the same...only we are fully aware of our predicament. 

Two years ago, I sat calmly reading the paper when the deep heavy pains in my chest took me to the ER. Naked and helpless on the operating table, I could only lay and watch as doctors and nurses saved my life.  I am still amazed at how these strangers fought for my life encouraging, beckoning me to live.  Why did I survive and not die?

 It is so easy to offer simplistic answers.  Religion is full of them. but, what is life?

As we grow our family nurtures us and loves us.  They provide the foundations of our belief systems and instill in us the values that we carry thru life. The religion of my youth provided me the answers that satisfied my mind. Yet as I grew, I found it provided more questions than answers.  Leaving organized religion behind I became a searcher, striving to live a life of value and worth. This provided comfort to me until the the heart attack again opened the question.

Now I ponder daily the meaning of life and ask what is lifes value.  What does our existence mean?

On the operating table, I had brief glimpses of eternity.  Were these real, or, anesthesia induced dreams? More questions.  Is there life after death?  In these glimpses/dreams, I saw and conversed with my parents, grandparents and old friends who passed before me. I can not explain the calm and love I felt. At some point I felt it was time to come back... or did I just wake up.  No disrespect to my family and friends who are believers...but, organized religions simplistic answers to my queries just do not work for me.

Through life, strangers influence and move us.  Sometimes they are the flicker of a candle in our life.  Other times, they become a part of our family, enriching us till we die. Jordan, one of the nurses at the hospital, came into my life for a brief moment yet saved my life.  Our interactions were brief, perhaps a few hours over a period of three months.  Yet, it seemed that whenever there was a moment of extreme despair...from the operating room to the painful difficult cardiac rehab that followed, she would appear out of nowhere. A caring look or the firm but gentle squeeze of a hand would raise my spirits and give me strength to continue.  What is it in life that makes total strangers instant friends?

I have been told that life is a circle.  John Lennon said in the end the love you take is equal to the love you gave. I have seen and felt the love many have given me. 

Of one thing I am certain, at the end of your life, though naked, helpless and surronded by strangers; love is there and goes with you.