Build a memorial to the unknown taxpayer!

By the way, we've been meaning to call attention to this item here.

Pardon for quoting the blogger, who writes

...[Clarey] took a call from a guy who is a Vietnam Era veteran. After asking Clarey his age and marital status (31, unmarried), this guy suggested that Clarey trot down to the local recruiter and sign up so he could take his energy and do just what he was suggesting.

Well, Clarey sorta danced around the suggestion, saying that he paid plenty of taxes and that was pretty much equivalent to serving in the military. Besides, he added, he had been to the recruiter, but balked when told he'd be best suited to be a logistics officer.

A couple of other callers phoned in and didn't seem all to happy with Aaron's reasoning about his taxes being a sufficient contribution for someone seemingly so fired up about fighting hard and strong. Clarey seemed a little less spirited after all those calls.

That got me thinking. What does it cost to send a soldier to fight in Iraq? I did a little Googling, and found this story. It seems that the cost of sending a soldier to Iraq for a year has gone up a lot, now reaching approximately $400,000. That's a lot of money. I wonder if a 2-hour-a-week talk show host and part-time ballroom dance instructor makes enough money to pay that much in federal income tax. Somehow, I doubt it.

Now, I certainly don't believe that a person has to join the military to be a patriot, although I'll call any man or woman who serves a patriot. I do believe, however, that a man who trumpets his determination that we fight and fight hard on the radio, while spending the rest of his time teaching folks how to Salsa, should not be claiming that his taxes are equal in any way to the service of the brave young men and women who risk their lives in our military.

The first caller I mentioned said, "It seems like you're one of those 'Let's you and him fight' kind of guys," to Clarey. I think Aaron needs to dust of his old economics texts and figure out how his federal tax dollars are equivalent to service in the military. I think his math's a little shaky on this one.

Ya gotta wonder, did the little fellow actually compare paying his taxes to serving the country in uniform? And, what, is he above being a logistics guy or something? 'Cuz we've got first-hand info here that if you want to just be a grunt and go remove IEDs, they'll let you do that (and even pay you a hefty bonus at the moment). So as always I find myself wondering, what kind of man awards himself a title, and what contempt does that show for the men and women who earn it?