Patriot Corps

This Kid deserves our help.

It strikes me that most Americans talk patriotism while making no sacrifice for country. What does it mean to be a Patriot anyway? Is it just doffing your cap at baseball games? The way your throat catches with the first note of the national anthem? Or getting worked up on a blog and calling someone else a Communist? None of these are partiotic as being a Patriot requires sacrifice.

It also seems obvious to me that we are enriching far too many civilian workers in Iraq at too great an expense to the U.S. taxpayer. So, I have a new Patriotic project to suggest that would save the nation money while allowing coach Patriots to get up and do something about it. Certainly many hundreds of thousands of people volunteered to help during the recovery from Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. I bet many of them would love to help with the war effort.

So here is my suggestion: the Patriot Corps. I envision the organization sending civilian volunteers to Iraq to fill the many support roles currently farmed out to International corporations employing mostly non-American citizens to do a myriad of jobs. With a Patriot Corps, Amercans could do any number of jobs: drive fuel trucks, serve food at American bases, sort mail, oversee engineering projects, help rebuild and improve Iraqi schools and clinics, train police officers, etc. We pay food workers--mostly from the third world--as much as $80,000 a year to serve food to our troops. I'm a professor with summers off and would gladly give up a month or two to work in a chow hall. And I would do it for free. For love of country.

I know what folks are thinking; people get killed over there! They blow up guys driving fuel trucks and police trainees. I don't want to to die. Well, neither do our soldiers. That is what being a Patriot means. Risking your life and treasure to ensure the future of the Republic. It is that simple. Moreover, think of the skills that many retired folks--or workaholics with six months of comp time saved up--could offer to the rebuilding effort. If we really want to make that country a better place and want our boys home now, then we had better get off our asses and do something about it. Or we had better come home.

I'm especially sick of listening to the No Tax crowd in Tennessee blathering about what Patriots they are. If you don't pay increased taxes to fund the war, and you don't send your kids, then what is the basis of your patriotism?

My second suggestion is a Patriot Tax. All families who have a family member who has served in the U.S. military--active or reserve--from 9.11.2001 to the present would be exempt. And we should also exempt any veteran of a foreign war. I'd say that the World War II gents have already done their share. The rest of us would have our taxes increased by the yearly cost of all foreign wars. A simple equation: if you don't serve you pay. That would be Patriotism.