A Word to Our Government Officials

Would it also be unfair of me to ask that not spend a lot of time on things that are unimportant to people in their day to day lives.  I am glad we got steroids out of baseball, but how much time, energy and money was spent during those trials that could have gone to more deserving efforts.  I remember years ago when rap lyrics were investigated, was that really one of the most important things going on at the time?  I doubt it.  I am not saying these examples or ones like them are unimportant, but could limit the time you spend on them?

Even if you can’t agree on global warming the fact is that the planet has a limited amount of resources.  Oil, our favorite natural resource, will run out eventually and is controlled by OPEC.  It’s time that we start looking for new ways to make oil production and refining in the United States an achievable reality while developing and streamlining new alternative energy solutions right now.  Windmills, Solar Panels, Clean Coal and the Electric Car would do wonders for getting out from under OPEC and cleaning up the environment. 

When it comes to healthcare there is a lot that I just don’t understand.  Mainly, what’s the rush and why not look at other measures before you make such a big gamble?  The first news of healthcare overhaul came out in February, a mere 7 months ago.  Most experts agree that the bills in front of you are severely flawed in one way or the other.  Why not form a panel of experts from areas of the private sector along with government officials and select interest groups to really study what can be done to fix our healthcare system and give them the proper amount of time to do it.  In the meantime, it wouldn’t hurt to look into making our current system better. 

If our children are our future steps have to be taken to ensure they have a fighting chance by giving every kid a proper education.  Don’t confuse this with saying all kids need to get the same education but a child from a low income family should come out of high school with the same basic skills as one from private school.  Make college more affordable for everyone.  As I stated before, I grew up middle class, when it was time for me to go to college we were stuck.  My parents were not wealthy enough to pay for school out of pocket but made enough to knock me out of contention for most grants. Finally, it’s time to ease up on the regulation of teachers in reference to test scores.  I love for someone overseeing education to tell the nations parents that part of the solution to the education puzzle takes place at home.    

I could go on about securing our borders, immigration control and drug reform but I want to keep this fairly brief and leave anyone reading this with some final thoughts.  We are part of the problem.  We have to take some responsibility for our lives.  It’s time for us as a county to start looking big picture.  All of this noise out there has clouded our collective judgment and it seems like good natured discussions have been taken over by screams and uninformed name calling.  Take a step back, don’t believe everything you hear, and do some research on both sides of any issue.  In the end, our quality of living is not determined by government policy or what party is in office, but rather what we do to make the most of what we have been given.