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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]How much extra would you pay for gas for a few months if it meant saving the lives of 500K to 1 million Ukrainians?

That’s literally the calculus all of you should be considering. Would you pay $6/gallon for the next 6 months if you could save the lives of 300,000 children and their mothers?

Unfortunately, I think most Americans - particularly those who drive a lot - would say “I don’t care, not my problem.” If there’s one thing Americans and Russians have in common is that their elites believe life should be cheap.[/quote]

I'd make the same sacrifices my grandparents made in WWII.  [/quote]

I think about that a lot.  I don't think most Americans are familiar with the sacrifices people made in WWII (other than sending kids off to war).  My grandfather ran a gas station during WWII, and my dad collected ration cards.  I saw an economist on CNN saying we had to be really careful about some of hte sanctions because of the effect on energy costs, and how they are already high and no one wants to pay more at the pump.  And I was thinking "Yeah, people are willing to let Ukrainians die rather than pay more at the pump."  To be fair, we weren't willing to pay more at the pump after 9/11, when the Saudi's financed the murder of thousands of Americans.  Our dependence on cheap foreign oil has led to a really sad outcomes.
THis is really the time to do it, too -- at least we're not headed into winter when people will need heating oil.  [/quote]

I kept waiting after 9/11 to hear what were the sacrifices we needed to make for this war. Then I was told to "keep shopping." Yes, demand is crucial in a healthy economy, but I know the "sense of shared sacrifice" is what shaped my parents' world when they were in their early teens in WWII and made them to be the community-minded people they were as adults and til their deaths. I would like to say that the Bush II team blundered when they said "keep shopping," but I think it was a purposeful choice by the political people to exploit partisan division (as seen just months later when they went after Democratic Senate incumbents as "weak on terror," including a triple amputee from the Vietnam War, running against a chickenhawk in Georgia).

If Biden talks about any sense of sacrifice in tonight's SOTU, sadly, the GOP will then say "his weak leadership caused this," rather than hewing to the tradition of both parties coming together in international crises. Fortunately Biden is at the helm as there is really no way that EU countries, along with other nations, would have come together so fast and seamlessly. Heck, the three big neutrals - Finland, Sweden, and Switzerland (who stood on the sidelines during WWII!) - and Germany took action over the weekend. A refreshing type of norm breaking after 4 years of shredding.[/quote]

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