Because Everybody Is Entitled To My Opinion

"O LORD, revive thy work in the midst of the years, . . . in wrath remember mercy" (Habakkuk 3:2).
"Wilt thou not revive us again: that thy people may rejoice in thee?" (Psalm 85:6)

Tuesday, July 19, 2005

Ben Stein: We Were Soldiers Once, and Broke

I admire Ben Stein a great deal. Here is a piece he wrote for the NY Times. We Were Soldiers Once, and Broke He states;
What keeps going through my mind is that there is a big, yet always unstated, connection between these two groups of men and women - on one hand, the megastars of Wall Street and corporate boardrooms, with their vast paychecks, yachts and horse farms in the Hamptons, and, on the other, the grunts in body armor chasing down terrorists half a world away in 130-degree heat.

The link is that the men and women of Wall Street and of corporate America do their very important work - and it is vital work, indeed - inside a box of security and safety created by the courage of the men and women who wear battle dress uniforms and ride down the highway of death in Iraq in armored personnel carriers handling machine guns.

The men and women in the Armani suits, who get the huge paychecks - and who, again, do work I sincerely appreciate and admire - could not exist for long if they were not being shielded by the men and women in uniforms and boots.

Ben suggests that some of these upper crust financial types who pull in multimillion dollar salaries pay more taxes and our soldiers get more pay. I cautiously agree. But I don't want to sound like a tax and spend democrat who wants to redistribute the wealthy's money. I just believe that our servicemen and women deserve money and benefits more in line with the risks to life and limb that they face every day.

Hat Tip Powerline

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