Veterans Day Needs More Than Thanks

For the past week the television networks did a wonderful job of highlighting our troops overseas and in a variety of ways saying thanks to those in the military.

However, Veterans Day should be more than just saying thanks. It should be a time to think about why our troops today are in combat zones, the reasons they were sent there, and what the ultimate objective is in order to bring them home. No greater sacrifice is being made for our country. No greater issue needs to be constantly examined.

Reality is that to most all Americans the wars overseas are not often in our thoughts. We are not personally affected on a daily basis. Since most Americans never served in the military, saying “thanks” seems to be all we can do.

Not so. If we want to say a more meaningful thanks, we would make sure all Americans have to endure some form of sacrifice. Not in the life and death way of the military, but at least something to make going to war a very personal experience.

The best way to do that is for Americans to pay the excess cost needed to keep troops overseas in combat zones. As the then Chairman of the Joints Chief of Staff Admiral Mike Mullen commented, the gravest national security threat to America is our budget deficit. A big part of the deficit is the cost of keeping our military strong and operating it overseas.

If we all want to share in the sacrifice and force ourselves to think often of the purpose our troops are in combat, I suggest we need to have a gas tax that covers the cost of going to war. Our troops are in the Middle East because it is in America’s interest to have a stable world economy. Stable oil prices are one leg that provides that stability. Let’s pay for it with a variable gas tax that increases and decreases with the cost of our combat overseas: or through a special income tax charge.

A variable gas tax or special income tax would remind us frequently of the sacrifice our service men and women are making and allow us to join them in that sacrifice. It would also help reduce the budget deficit caused by the need to keep troops in harm’s way.

We all need to say thanks on Veterans Day. We should share in their sacrifices too.