A Few Words About Sacrifice

While watching Meet the Press today I heard Republican Governor Bob McDonald of Virginia say something very telling and I’m wondering if anyone else heard it. As he was praising the Paul Ryan budget he said (and I double checked the transcript): “It takes big ideas, and-- and things that are going to take some sacrifice for a lot of people in order to get our country back on track.” and I immediately noticed that he said “sacrifice for a lot of people” and not sacrifice for ALL Americans. After the segment ended I stopped and thought, is this the new paradigm for America? Are the days when we all sacrificed really over for good? Are we now and forevermore to be a two class society? Do we now have one class of people who are too rich to sacrifice, too rich to fail, too rich to jail, too rich to fight in the wars that they so eagerly support, too rich to be bothered with the problems of the masses, too rich to be burdened with higher taxes? And do we now have another class of people who are to be called upon forevermore to do the dirty work, to do the fighting and the dying, to take the fall, and make up the shortfall, and pay the higher taxes in order to keep our country on track? Is this the conservative vision of the Natural Order of Things? Is it the result of a generation of trickledown economics? Or is this a wakeup call to the 99% who with only a modicum of self preservation have the power to turn our country back into a nation where we all sacrifice in times of hardship, and where a rising economic tide does indeed raise all ships … including the boats and rafts of the middle class and poor. Yes, if only the 99% would serve themselves instead of their masters, we could have that country back, and we could tell Governor McDonald, and Paul Ryan, and their ilk that “you sirs will share in our sacrifice, and together we will ALL get our country back on track.”