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Asking politicians for a small sacrifice

By Russ Stresing

    How about a law that would require that no member of Congress, the Senate, the White House would receive a penny more salary than the lowest paid American Soldier, Marine, Airman, Sailor currently in combat?  So long as one ground-pounding, oath-swearing, mother's child is under threat of injury....no one who had a hand in sending them into harm's way should receive one dime more than that service member does.
 
    And, its not retro-active.  So long as your son, daughter, nephew, niece, cousin, grandson, granddaughter, mother, father, sister, brother, neighbor is in harm's way, no one who sent them there will accrue (you should pardon my french) a damned dime more than that hero does.  If  you sit in one of those seats of inscrutable power, you'd better be so thoroughly convinced of the righteousness of your decision that you'd at least wager your salary on it.

   Because the people you're sending into battle wager a hell of a lot more than your political future.  Their oath entails more than a hand on a book.  Their oath takes them into a situation you send them into.  And it better be for more than oil, for more than a political ideology, it better be for more than your re-election chances. This isn't about philosophy.  It's about the genuine dedication and sacrifice of American citizen soldiers and families.

   Given the preponderance of millionaire-members of the Senate and Congress, maybe they can absorb the cost of their decision easier than we absorb the true cost of war.   Is it asking so much that they share a fraction of the financial cost that our service families endure?

   Does this sound like a good idea to you?

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