Ed Wood "The Right Stuff" Published May 1, 2002

Whose generosity is it?

Following the tragic event of last Sept. 11, Congress rushed to allocate $20 billion, or $25 billion, depending on how you count it, to the families of the victims of the World Trade Center tragedy. Although the casualty total has dropped from an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 at the time the bill was passed to approximately 2,800 now, the total dollar allocation has remained the same. The last time I saw a figure it averaged about $2.6 million per victim in taxpayer-funded compensation, which doesn't include the additional billions of dollars donated through the various charitable organizations.

The families of the terrorist targets of the Oklahoma City bombing, the USS Cole, the Middle Eastern embassies, the Marine barracks, etc., are mad because they didn't get a similar compensation. And those who are getting the $2.6+ mil are also mad because they aren't getting more. So what is the answer? Perhaps it was best stated by Tennessee Congressman Davy Crockett, hero of the Alamo, as related in his biography, The Life of Colonel David Crockett, by Edward S. Ellis.

"One day in the House of Representatives a bill was taken up appropriating money for the benefit of a widow of a distinguished naval officer. Several beautiful speeches had been made in its support. The speaker was just about to put the question when Davy Crockett arose:

"'Mr. Speaker - I have as much respect for the memory of the deceased, and as much sympathy for the suffering of the living, if there be, as any man in this House, but we must not permit our respect for the dead or our sympathy for part of the living to lead us into an act of injustice to the balance of the living. I will not go into an argument to prove that Congress has not the power to appropriate this money as an act of charity. Every member on this floor knows it. We have the right as individuals, to give away as much of our own money as we please in charity; but as members of Congress we have no right to appropriate a dollar of the public money. I am the poorest man on this floor. I cannot vote for this bill, but I will give one week's pay to the object, and if every member of Congress will do the same, it will amount to more than the bill asks.'"

Come now to Sept. 11, 2001. The generosity of Congress was without restraint in appropriating funds for the WTC victims. But although our two legislative houses are filled with millionaires, or better, you saw none of them opening their own checkbooks. Only yours.
Several weeks ago I was driving up Hwy. 84 from Sparta to Crossville. My cruise control was set on 59, but when I went down that long hill (you know the one) my coasting speed exceeded my cruise-control speed by about 10 mph. When I reached the bottom there was a gentleman in a yellow and black car, just waiting to "protect and serve." $136 worth - plus costs. The next day my wife asked Sparta mayor, Claude Bradley, if she got a speeding ticket, would he fix it? His reply, "No, Miss Sue, I won't fix it. But if you get a ticket, I will pay your fine!" Davy would've been proud.

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Ed Wood is a resident of Sparta, TN. His column is published each Wednesday in the Crossville Chronicle.