Our president states we are at war, but the burden of this conflict is being borne by a very small proportion of our citizens. Namely the armed forces, Reserves, National Guard and their families. This burden should be more widely spread over the remainder of our citizens. One way to do this is to ensure that the cost of this war, and our increasing national debt, will be paid for currently and not passed on to our children and grandchildren.

However, this should not be done by reducing the money for education, health, housing and ignoring the needs of the members of our society who currently live at, or below, the national poverty level.

I propose that the president and members of Congress re-evaluate our system of taxation, which today favors the rich and large corporations. In addition to this realignment, they should increase our taxes rather than leave this unpopular task to those who come after us.

This will require sacrifice, and so will take courage to implement on the part of the president and politicians of both parties to focus on the future welfare of our country rather than on the votes that they gain or lose during coming elections.

John K. Hampshire, Auburn