Connected By a Thin Wire?

I had to ask myself: How am I connected to this war? I have no family members that are fighting overseas. Nor do I have any friends or friends who have their relatives fighting overseas in this mess of a war of ours. So how could I possibly be connected to this war?

As thin as the connection may be, on the lines of money, I feel that it a very important connection. Although I’m not working right now, when I had a job in the summer, a percentage was taken out of my paycheck to go towards some sort of funding for the war. Whether it was directly or indirectly funding the war, the money was taken out of my earnings.

And each and every one of us helps fund the war with the money that we spend on a day-to-day basis. All companies alike have obligations to give small portions of their earnings to the government. (I guess this money would be referred to as “taxes”). As small as the percentage may be, it is still going towards the one cause that is America’s most controversial issue – the war.

I’m not so concerned with the progress of war, and the whole political side of it. I feel that there is no point in trying to set up democracies in other countries. Look at our history in the past. Countries have rebelled against the ideals of democracy, and terrorist organizations formed. And even in the United States, there are still terrorist groups/gangs (and last time I checked, our government is democratic).

I figure since I can’t control the progress of war, then I will check on the economic status of our country. I read the Philadelphia Inquirer daily, and look at BusinessWeek to see how our economy is doing. I feel it’s important to know and understand something that we can all control – our money. But I do keep up with the politics, thanks to John Stewart. He is the only person I will listen to because his show pokes fun at politics, all while informing his audience of what is going on with the war.