Americans Need to Sacrifice More

Can you believe the audacity of some people? Republican Senator Tom Coburn, speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference, said, referring to the president, "I believe he should have a request for the American people to sacrifice. There are plenty of things to trim, and the president needs to lead on that."

I have a few choice words I could say to Coburn, but Jonathan Tasini did a great job of setting the Senator straight.

Which American people should do the sacrificing, Senator? The families of the more than 2,200 American soldiers who were killed in Iraq? The families of the soldiers who were maimed and horribly wounded and will live the rest of their lives suffering from their battle scars? And even after the president proposes cutting veterans medical care by 13 percent, you would think the ingrates would be willing to sacrifice even more, right, Senator?

Or, Senator, perhaps you were thinking about the families of workers whose wages have been stagnant, even though they've been working harder than ever and are even more productive? How about the families of the 45 millions Americans without health insurance? Or maybe the families of the United Airlines workers who gave $4 billion in concessions to try to save the company, while executives granted themselves tens of millions of dollars in stock options? Or maybe, Senator, you were referring to the thousands of workers whose pensions were dumped by companies like Delphi who enriched their executives while their companies floundered?

Oh, I see, Senator, you must have been referring to the 420,000 low-income seniors who get food assistance through the Commodity Supplemental Food Program (CSFP)--which the president's budget is terminating. Now, there's a group that's fat and happy. Where's their patriotic sacrifice, huh?

And it's not just the seniors who should be coughing up some more money. What about taking some dough from kids? You think the Administration's proposal to slash education and workforce development programs by $52.7 billion over five years (which include K-12 education, higher education, community college funding, and job training) is enough asking enough sacrifice from future generations? Don't be weak, Senator. There's more money to ring from those rascals.

Senator, believe me, you don't have to stop there if we're really looking for sacrifice. What about the hundreds of thousands of families, crippled by record crushing debt, who had to quickly run to bankruptcy court last October thanks to the bill that you helped pass that was a gift for the credit card companies but would make it so much harder for hard-working families to get a new start? You must be thinking, Senator, can't we squeeze just a bit more from them?

Some how, Senator, when you spoke of sacrifice, I was waiting for you to mention the very richest in our society, the people who have walked off with hundreds of billions of dollars courtesy of the Republican tax cuts--tax cuts that are bankrupting the country, causing record deficits, saddling our children and grandchildren with mind-boggling debt and mortgaging our future to foreign investors.

What do you think, Senator? You think they can spare a dime?

Rich Republicans don't believe in personal sacrifice. As one person commented, "Never ever forget that GOP stands for "Grease Our Palms, Grab Our Profits and Give Others Poverty."