Steve Blow rocks

Steve Blow is one of my favorite columnists in the Dallas Morning News. A down to earth writer with really good common sense columns. His column last Sunday really made me think (read it here if you'd like). It's about how the war in Iraq can be seen as almost a spectator sport. With the all volunteer army and the dropping numbers associated with it, the majority of American people are not directly touched by what is going on over there. And while it is easy to put a magnetic ribbon on your SUV (seen while you fill it up at the gas station), the news on Iraq is almost becoming an afterthought, pushed deeper into the newspaper or becoming less and less the main story on the evening news.

He points out that in the President's address last week he really wishes that more had been actually asked of the American people. Like urging citizens to enlist or proposing a temporary tax to pay for the Iraq invasion. "That would certainly focus our attention" he writes. Also brings to mind the arguments people throw out there of bringing back the draft (to "Let the Congressmen in Washington feel what it's like to have a son or daughter be sent to war and see how much support they then give it").

Now don't get me wrong. I'm not necessarily in favor of either a war tax or the return of the draft. But I think a lot about how this current war doesn't affect most American's lives at home a bit, of course other than concern over American lives in danger there. There's no rationing here, no "victory gardens", nothing in my - and most people's, I assume - daily life that has changed at all due to this war. Other than longer waits in the security line at the airport, but even that can be attributed to Al Queda/bin Laden. No matter WHAT the current administration now alludes did not have anything to do with Iraq - where's the WMDs???

A bit of disclosure here: while I was not a supporter of the invasion of Iraq (never a compelling argument made to me to justify that extreme of an action), I do support our troops. I'm the daughter of a life-long Army reservist who did active duty for quite a few years and I am extremely thankful for the freedoms our military have won for us over the years. I feel like it is a very noble service for the country, and I'm thankful that there are braver people than myself out there who are willing to put their lives on the line for us.

Anyway, why can't this time be used to wean us off of foreign oil, even a little bit. How about some gas rationing? Or, even better, some higher mileage standards imposed for vehicles? Or big tax credits/incentives for utilizing sustainable energy resources? It's probably too late now to push anything like this through - the time to do that was right after 9-11 when the country was up in arms and galvanized behind a common goal. But I'm afraid too many of us are apathetic about doing anything other than paying lip service supporting the war, and really just don't want to be inconvenienced in any way. God bless America.