Redstate

Even mentioned it to a number of house GOP leaders at the blog row which I attended.

YOU ARE RIGHT!

It does create participation and it also allows some of us who do not wish to get charged higher taxes, but which to give to the war effort another way of doing so.

and like you, I never like even bond proposals, I usually vote against them locally. The fact is that the government does not need more of our money, it needs less. We could give teh troops a big raise if we got rid of the Department of Education. Maybe we could pay the interest on the bonds with funds already slated for the DEA?

But for the reasons you state, this is not a bad idea. If the American people can show their support, it would be a good thing. Of course, we would want the strictest adherence, maybe a private company to make sure the funds are not misused.

Molon Labe!

Well Said.

What's the conservative estimated costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, so far?

War Bonds make sense and will also help share the burden now being born by only the soldiers and their families.

"No compromise with the main purpose, no peace till victory, no pact with unrepentant wrong." - Winston Churchill

Bush should have backed war bonds after 9/11. The money is needed and it gives liberals a chance to show their America-hating roots.

Truth is though,

Bonds are for old folks.

They wouldn't possibly pay more than a percent or two over inflation, and you can get that on a high yield money market account now.

"Life is too short, can't we all just eat pork and kill some terrorists?"

Honestly, this is just more debt - with admittedly a very patriotic sounding name - that has to be paid off down the road. Maybe with the fancy name, people will be willing to accept a lower rate of return. Outside of that I really fail to see how this supports the troops any better than one of those magnetic yellow stickers on the back of your car.

lets see, we could start with a windfall profits tax on the income of leftist celebrities, and lawyers who win class action suits. Follow that up by a special Latte tax on all Starbucks and a tax on Ben and Jerry's. And how about a new enviroment friendly tax on the dead tree media, NYTimes, Wapo, etc.

"Nothing works like freedom, Nothing succeeds like liberty"
Kyle

I think it is long past time for all of us to sign up for the war, one way or another.

But you (and everyone else) must realize, whether you support the war in total, or certain selective aspects of it, or none of it at all: as a general rule, every citizen and corporate taxpayer is contributing to the effort.

Your modest proposal at least differs from previous calls to create a sense in people that they are making a sacrifice through a draft or through tax raises in that yours is voluntary. But, the Iraq effort and general anti-terrorism activities do cost money, and one way or another it creates a burden that all American citizens will bear.

To the extent people agree/disagree with the end goals of the costly activities, or agree/disagree with the means being used to accomplish those goals, the best course of action is elective support for leadership that you feel most closely approximates your own opinions. Your tax dollars will then be used accordingly (assuming your preferred candidates are elected). Secondarily, it makes a great deal of sense to demand that leadership effectively prioritize this effort and de-prioritize (defund) other government programs of far less value, as well as demand careful stewardship and efficiency (i.e. lack of wasted funds to corruption, poor oversight, etc).

But if you want to avail yourself of an additional means of involvement beyond paying taxes and voting, I suggest that rather than send more money to the government, you explore some of the already existing mechanisms for providing direct support to military personnel, such as: anysoldier.com, troopsupportusa.com, bootsonground.com, soldiersangels.org, opgratitude.com, and many others out there that you can find fairly easily. Your elected government will spend whatever it decides it needs to without relying on voluntary cash contributions, but these privately organized entities will typically be operated with great focus and passion in meeting their specific mission, their specific means of assistance to personnel - which fill gaps that your government (regardless of who is in power) cannot or will not provide for.

To issue a government bonds means to borrow money or incur debt. Whether the the money comes from a bank or from a person buying a bond makes no difference.

Currently running a deficit, the government is effectively already borrowing money from the future tax paying population in order to fund the war now. To say we should buy bonds (incur debt) just means that we should tax in the future and not today. The choice isn't between a tax and a bond, its between a tax on us or a tax on people in the future. Buying a bond might make people feel good and it might be good PR, but the reality of the message it sends is that the present generation doesn't car enough to pay now, but cares enough to let the future generation pay.

Bonds are government obligations that need to be funded from future tax receipts. While we are not currently selling war bonds, we are selling US Treasury Notes (long term debt) to fund current operating expenses. In my opinion, Conservatives shouldn't abhor the word or even the idea of taxes. We should abhor the practice of massive government spending that requires excessive taxation. From a practical point of view, whether we pay taxes for these expenditures today or 5, 10, and 30 years from now is irrelevant. However, from a moral point of view, it is shameful to pass on our debts to our children and grandchildren. That is not to say that we should never run an operating deficit, but our current deficit and our mounting debt is excessive in my opinion.

as long as the revenues generated by the bond sales are earmarked for our troops and cannot be spent on anything else. It's an excellent way to bind the country together and give people a tangible way to show their support for the troops.

And, unlike taxation, it's voluntary.

Finally, we can put leftist politicians and celebrities on the spot: they're always claiming they're just as patriotic and support the troops as much as we do - let them show it. Maintain a website that lists how much in "troop bonds" each elected official in the country buys each year, from the President and Congress, to the Governors and state legislators, to local officeholders.