Shared sacrifice?

There was a neat segment in Ken Burns' amazing documentary on World War II ("The War") that discussed the sacrifices Americans made during the war. From saving bacon grease, to rationing food, to recycling aluminum, to buying war bonds, to serving - everyone played some part in the war effort.

Today we're fighting two wars and there seems to be no real talk of shared sacrifice. In fact, when some politicians, including the recent Debt Commission, make suggestions about raising the retirement age or raising the gas tax, the proposals are DOA. Now, I am not about to advocate for massive tax increases but I have been thinking...part of the reason we have such massive deficits is because of the amount of money we're spending on the wars in the Middle East. By some estimates, we have spent well over $1 trillion on the wars since 2001.

I wonder if we're all doing our part to help pay down a deficit that is high in part because of the men and women fighting to protect us from harm. See more on this here.