As I sit here watching a full slate of NFL games (a CFL one and some rugby World Cup to balance it all out) all commemorating the 10th anniversary of 9/11, I start to think:
Why do Americans say they care so much about their "heroes" - soldiers, firefighters, police officers - who die every single day fighting for their country and saving lives, but cry foul when they've got to raise taxes to pay for these "heroes" and a debt crisis which was due in part to spending billions of dollars for war?
And to boot, Americans love football more than they love their own country. How else could the average American taxpayer explain paying a few hundred dollars to watch a live professional football game (I'm not even including the NCAA where over 114,000 people watched Michigan play Notre Dame last night) or subscribe to TV packages and buy merchandise or play in fantasy leagues that drives the multi-billion dollar league and its multi-million dollar employees, while their "heroes" are lucky to get their education paid for while dodging bullets or those many volunteers that put their lives on the line to save others.
Last time I checked, I didn't see Bush or Obama or anyone on CNN saying that after 9/11 firefighters, police officers and soldiers should get an astronomical pay raise for what they've done for their country. If you can bailout greedy executives, why not give the money to people that actually do something for your country?
If that's not backwards, I don't know what is.
Why do Americans say they care so much about their "heroes" - soldiers, firefighters, police officers - who die every single day fighting for their country and saving lives, but cry foul when they've got to raise taxes to pay for these "heroes" and a debt crisis which was due in part to spending billions of dollars for war?
And to boot, Americans love football more than they love their own country. How else could the average American taxpayer explain paying a few hundred dollars to watch a live professional football game (I'm not even including the NCAA where over 114,000 people watched Michigan play Notre Dame last night) or subscribe to TV packages and buy merchandise or play in fantasy leagues that drives the multi-billion dollar league and its multi-million dollar employees, while their "heroes" are lucky to get their education paid for while dodging bullets or those many volunteers that put their lives on the line to save others.
Last time I checked, I didn't see Bush or Obama or anyone on CNN saying that after 9/11 firefighters, police officers and soldiers should get an astronomical pay raise for what they've done for their country. If you can bailout greedy executives, why not give the money to people that actually do something for your country?
If that's not backwards, I don't know what is.
Interesting post.
ReplyDeleteHow many of those trillions of dollars that Bush II invested in The War On Terror made it into the hands of the people fighting the war and families suffering because of it.
It's all for show.
As long as those with the biggest voices get paid, I don't think you'll hear people complaining.
ReplyDelete