President Obama has been busy lately. In a relatively recent Reuters article he spoke about the national deficit, which the article stated is at $1.47 trillion. This is such an incomprehensibly large amount that I am incapable of quantifying it. The main point of the article was mostly to state how screwed the country is if we keep traveling down the path of deficit spending.
People who complain about the national debt may want to remember the only time we didn’t have any was when President Andrew Jackson paid it off. Anyway, I think it’s ironic the man who created around $700 billion of the $1.47 trillion is now complaining about it. The article alludes to this by stating, “Obama said that emergency government spending measures he took to support growth and hiring when he took office last year had temporarily added to the funding gap, but the deficit had to be tackled going forward.”
So what’s my point? The article mentioned if the Republicans come into office they’ll cut all sorts of government spending including public education. While this may seem like fear mongering, it does have enough truth to make me worry.
In order to combat this, the age old tool of the vote comes into play. By looking at a candidate’s goals and plans we can find out what they plan to do about the national deficit. Some government functions are needed more than a paid-off deficit; education is certainly one of them.
If a candidate proposes to cut something essential, then maybe they’re the wrong candidate. Cutting the deficit is a long term goal at this point because it’s so big. Fixing public education is much more important. Cutting it, and other similar programs, to pay down the deficit will only worsen the present situation. I don’t have an answer on how to succesfully reduce the deficit, but crippling America’s ability to produce educated people can’t be the
answer.
I’m sure there are some government programs that can be cut or reduced to help curb government spending. I’m not saying not to touch any government programs. I’m saying we need to carefully examine the programs, which cost the most and see if the funds for them can be reduced. Simple solutions to complex problems never work. With education as a possible target it just means more lazy thinkers – something I don’t look forward to while earning a PhD.
Of course, the threat to public education could just be fear mongering by the Democrats. It is apparently working. At least they’re becoming decent politicians. The bottom line is truth or not; vigilance against the further ruination of our country is vital to its survival. Remember that in the coming weeks.
