Chapter 10: SERVICE AND SACRIFICE NEEDED

Creating knowledge is not easy. Those who strive to do so often risk life, reputation, and wealth. The biggest knowledge creators must take giant leaps into the unknown, unsure of what will occur, unsure of their success, propelled by a need to explore their ideas and try to unearth truth. 

Madame Curie was a Polish scientist and the first woman to win not one Nobel Prize but two. She shared the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics for the discovery of radioactivity, a term she coined and the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1911 for her discovery of the elements polonium and radium. She is the only person to have received two Nobel Prizes in two different fields.

It’s safe to say Marie Curie was a super knowledge creator. And yet while her efforts brought her fame and recognition, they also tortured her and led to her death. Her decades of radioactive exposure left her perpetually ill and nearly blind. She died an early death at age 66 from either severe anemia or leukemia. Her own daughter and son-in-law continued Marie Curie’s work and both also died from radiation exposure.

This great leap in knowledge literally caused the death of the people who discovered it. They sacrificed their lives to uncover this information. Sacrifice and service is the bedrock of knowledge creation. The ability to work for the common good and defer pleasure are essential ingredients.

Many of the freedoms and riches we take for granted were forged by the sacrifice of others.

We have discussed the power of the words contained within the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. But what is less well known are the harsh personal sacrifices made by the signers. The signers gave a mutual pledge to sacrifice their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor for the cause of liberty. And many of them suffered greatly in the fight to bring these ideals into the light of the world. 

Of the 56 men who signed the declaration, 12 risked their lives in battles as members of state militias, five were captured and imprisoned during the Revolutionary War, 17 lost property as a result of British raids, and five lost their fortunes. 

Other citizens gave everything to the cause of liberty. Haym Solomon was a financier in colonial America who risked his life to help free colonial soldiers captured by the English. In addition, it is estimated that he personally lent the patriot war effort $650,000 ($9.4 billion in 2017 dollars) and was one of the main financiers of the fledgling republic. Haym Solomon had the satisfaction of seeing his efforts help birth a new nation, but he paid a heavy personal price. He died in 1785 penniless, his entire fortune willingly given to fund the creation of the United States.

Today, the idea seems almost unbelievable. How could someone give away their entire fortune to finance an idea? To finance a government? Imagine one of the billionaires today giving their personal fortunes in the advancement of a cause bigger than themselves. Is it possible? 

The concept of self-sacrifice has been replaced by many with the concept of personal gain. 

During World War II, Americans were asked to make sacrifices in many ways. Goods such as gasoline, butter, sugar and canned milk were rationed because they were needed for the war effort. Ration cards were given to control the amount of key materials that were consumed by the public. Americans pulled together and realized this rationing was for the good of the soldiers, the war effort, and the country.

To help pay for the war, taxes were substantially broadened and increased. In both 1941 and 1942, Congress significantly increased the number of people paying income tax by lowering income tax exemptions and adopting steeply graduated rates. These ranged from 13 percent on the first $2,000 of individual income up to 82 percent on income above $200,000. Gift and estate taxes were also broadened, and taxes on corporate income were increased. Taken together, they resulted in the highest tax rates in American history. Excise taxes on alcoholic beverages, tobacco, and gasoline rose dramatically as well.

But Americans didn’t just help to pay the war effort via taxes. The government encouraged Americans to purchase war bonds to help pay for the War and 85 million Americans complied, purchasing $185.7 billion of the bonds. Civilians also lived through wage and price controls.

In short, not only did the country sacrifice by sending 16,000,000 soldiers to fight in Europe and the Pacific (of whom 400,000 were killed and 600,000 wounded), but the people of the country made tremendous financial sacrifices at the time of the War to support the effort.

Contrast that to recent wars. After the attacks of 9/11, the United States retaliated by invading Afghanistan and Iraq. Leaving aside the wisdom of invading Iraq, consider that the government did not raise taxes or call for sacrifice to pay for the vast cost. According to Pentagon numbers, the “war on terror” increased the deficit by $2.4 trillion dollars. The entire amount was funded through borrowing instead of asking the citizens of the country to support it via sacrifice and savings. And people would have supported it. The country was firmly behind the invasion of Afghanistan and other efforts to keep the country safe. The invasion of Iraq was more controversial and turned out to be a poor decision, but the majority of Americans also would have supported it at the time. Far from sacrificing their fortunes, citizens weren’t even asked to pay some amount to fund retaliation against an attack on American soil.

So, what are we to make of this? It seems that our politicians believe that our people have run out of zeal and energy to defend our liberty. In the span of seventy years since World War II, we have become jaded and tired. The United States is still the world’s best hope to reach Ascendance and we as a people must rededicate ourselves to this proposition. It will not be easy, and it will require energy and sacrifice. It will require people to stop caring just about themselves and buy into the broader mission enshrined in our Declaration of Independence and Constitution.