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January 21, 2004
| Re: Bush hones in on youth |
Bush hones in on the uninformed ideals of youth, maybe, but not the interests of youth. True, he spoke of education, the economic future, the future of Social Security, and abstinence, as Chris points out.
But his education proposal was a joke when you consider the number of students it will fund compared with the inflation of costs and the drop in grants to date; or compare it against what he is spending for much less important pet projects. It was not even a drop in the bucket of what is actually needed. But it was enough that he can claim to support education in the upcoming elections.
He definitely honed in on the youth with his economic future -- because we and our children are the ones who will be paying down huge deficits and debts, facing enormous tax increases in a too-little-too-late effort to save social security, and supporting our parents or being cared for by our own children when the system fails. His tax cuts are widely hailed as the worst possible thing for our future economy, and he painted a grossly inaccurate picture of how much they have impacted our current economy. And anyone who knows how budgets work know his miracle budget is something that has to be seen to be believed, and even then it won't survive the special interests and differing opinions in the House and Senate.
The future of social security is that unless we control our spending, make difficult cuts and put controls in the program now, and let Bush's tax cuts expire, it has no future. The numbers don't lie. It will be extremely difficult to save social security even if we had a lot more funding, but it will be impossible with Bush's tax cuts and spending mis-priorities.
As for abstinence, it is not an either/or issue. Teach abstinence, but face the fact that most people won't practice it. For those, you have to continue sexual and family planning and the support of available birth control and counseling. Telling people they shouldn't be having sex, but if they do, you won't support making it safe and smart...isn't a real solution.
Bush did not offer real education support. He did not even touch on the environment -- the world our youth will inherit and that he is constantly stripping away protections for. He used his position of power to promote his personal view on homosexual marriage, a view contrary to the majority of youth I know. And he sent our youth to die and be maimed in Iraq with much less support than he might have if he had been willing to work with the UN rather than against it.
Written by Randy Henderson
a regular contributor to NEXT
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| Posted by Cal Blethen at January 21, 2004 11:05 AM |
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