Need $94 million? Well, Alaska has $315 million to spare

I promise I'm trying to be more positive, but I just had to respond to Adrienne Washington's article in The Washington Times. Apparently Adrienne has no problem with the $1 admission fee into the Smithsonian Museum suggested by James Moran (who hasn't replied to my recent post). She uses the examples of paying money for Six Flags or Kings Dominion, which I'm sure does not receive money from taxpayer money. Or when she converted her dollars to euros to go to museums oversees, in countries I'm sure are not American. She went as far as saying we're cutting funds for basic human services or struggling to raise money for Hurricane Katrina victims, so how can we afford the $94 million a year to take care of the backlog of repairs needed.

Well, first of all, Adrienne, it's not the dollar I have a problem with. I pay $2.50 for soda at the Museums like everyone else and don't have a problem with it. The issue at hand is simply tradition. It's about an American way. It's about one of the small moments that means so little then that means so much at the end. No one would miss the dollar; it's the experience that will be lost forever.

Should we charge money just because for profit businesses do? Businesses that don't get government help? Should we charge money just because the Europeans do? Or New Yorkers? Or even someone living on Uranus? Should we charge money to donate to Hurricane Katrina victims? What about developing a fund for Wal-Mart employees who are still getting pimped out of health care?

Or – maybe we can add it to the money we're still gonna give to Sen. Ted Stevens (R-AK) and Rep. Don Young (R-AK) even after the "Bridge to Nowhere" caused a funk. Yeah, all $315 MILLION for a bridge that led to NOWHERE! There's your money.

Want more? How about $1.4 BILLION? More? How about $23,345,344,262? The problem is not lack of money to fix stuff. The problem is the money is being spent on everything else. The war, Katrina, health care for Wal-Mart employees and their families, I can live with. But let's not pretend that's where all the tax money goes.

Obviously this is a case of agreeing to disagree. I'm not mad atcha. If they ask me to give up a buck to witness American history, I will, though I feel I already did. But right now they're not asking for a buck, so when you go to visit the Smithsonian Museum, are you gonna pay that buck to help with repairs you seem to feel we have no money to fix?