We have more selfishness now
During WWII, our non-combat population was asked to recycle and purchase war bonds. Food rationing was mandatory. Almost everyone cooperated patriotically — except draft dodgers, black marketers and businessmen working clandestinely with Axis powers.
Now political wars over taxation and spending create cynical exploitation. Congress barely escaped an economic worsening and right away corporations scurried to swap some investments for others that can’t be taxed, using legislation specifically designed as fair relief to family farmers. Where’s the patriotism in that? Have we limited its definition to only troop support?
There’s a local woman whose father was a tax- deduction addict. He’d pay accountants as much as deductions were worth just to “defeat” the IRS. She looks at most tax-deduction junkies and sees undermining of government, but accepts as fact that those who struggle the most need some tax breaks; it’s fair and necessary.
We dislike relentless political wars and can’t understand why it continues. One big factor is that when leaders unwisely imagine national advantage overseas through warfare, it creates actual piracy at home. More selfishness, less patriotism; this is our predicament. We can’t legislate integrity, only the hope of it.
RACHEL WHEELER