Democrat presidential hopefuls are rolling out plans to spend your money to get themselves elected as the first set of TV candidate show-debates are imminent and El Paso’s Beto Pancho O’Rourke has called for a “war tax” that “would be progressive and levied on households without current members or veterans of the armed forces.”
Beto Pancho & his bullhorn
In other words, in a country with an all-volunteer military, O’Rourke wants to heavily tax families that do not have a member serving in the armed forces. O’Rourke, who did not serve in the military, equates paying a tax of $25 up to $1000 per year with the sacrifice of those who serve by saying to justify the tax: “We must be willing to pay any price, and bear any burden…”
This is foolish from every angle. Defense of the nation is the first role of the federal government and thus all the taxes we already pay are for military protection. It’s his fellow Democrats and Leftists who spend those funds first on social welfare as opposed to defense.
But far more stupid is his call to fund veterans’ healthcare with fifty-percent of what he calls “savings” by ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (he seems unaware that we are no longer in Iraq by the way.)
The silly idea of “peace dividends,” where we redirect money away from national defense, is partly why we keep finding ourselves in new wars.
The silly idea of “peace dividends,” where we redirect money away from national defense, is partly why we keep finding ourselves in new wars. The lowering of our defense posture globally signals enemies, known and unknown, that we are no longer committed to robust defense of American interests. It is a self-defeating proposal and is stupid whether coming from savvy George H.W. Bush after the fall of the Soviet Union or an inconsequential lightweight like Beto Pancho O’Rourke.
Si desiderat pacem, praeparat bellum.
Also, let us not forget that Mr. O’Rourke believes the State’s power should be unlimited and should even include the extracting of labor from its citizens at the point of a gun. Remember his support for mandatory service to the State? This tax idea is a back door way to get to that point.