To the People of Rochester:
This is an letter to the editor of the Democrat & Chronicle written as an assignment for my college English class. Undoubtedly it will not be published because of its length so consider this to be a GregVernon.com exclusive.
I will be the first to admit life in our city and country are far from perfect, taxes are high, jobs are few and far between and even are best schools are facing declining graduation rates; all while record high food and gas prices starve us inside our freezing homes.
But as Americans we have often found great pride in our abilities to make life better or to conquer unimaginable challenges. After all, we managed to land on the moon with the computing power of today’s calculators!
But it seems, with the modern challenges of inflation and corruption all around us we have lost either the ability or the will (though I’m firmly in believe that it is the latter) to face the difficult challenges that lay before us and instead we look to quick fixes (the $850bil bailout, for example) to temporarily alleviate our problems. Even as I type this there is a candidate promising “hope” and “change” we cannot look to one individual to solve all of our problems (at this point, I’ll confess. I am neither an Obama or McCain supporter). If we are to leave any opportunity for our children each and every one of us need to make sacrifices to truly change our direction.
We need to spend time with our children and worry about their education! Too many parents think of public schools as babysitting while they work; they think it is the teacher’s job to educate their children. This terrifying mentality has had the largest affect on our children’s minds – even above less-than-stellar school funding. If you want your child to succeed get involved. Why would your child care about his or her education when you, their parent, simply don’t?
We need to save more and spend less! Our economy is utterly destroyed; no bailout or economic stimulus package can fix the mess we have caused ourselves. If we want to restore our economy to its once great levels, we must live within our means. Perhaps one should forgo the trip to Europe, or the new car, or new house and instead save the money for the inevitable rainy day. We must never spend money we don’t have; too many of us (myself included) have purchased unnecessary items on credit, only to struggle to cope with the monthly payments.
With our approval, even our government is guilty of buying on credit. Our national debt (which our children must pay) is at a record $10,000,000,000 (that’s 10 trillion dollars). As Rep. Paul of Texas put in his remarks to the voter values summit, “[our country] is on the verge of bankruptcy.” Even as they run the debt our leaders in Washington cannot be entirely blamed for the currency crisis we are on the verge of facing; it was we the people who sent them to Washington, after all. To fix this we must move off the couch and avoid the endless distraction of television and demand more of our leaders. We must learn what our leaders are doing and protest their behavior if the need arise.
To my fellow citizens: even as the text of this letter may seem contrary, I am an optimist! We can overcome the problems of the present. The solutions we need are extraordinarily simple, if only we were to put forth the effort in using them.
Just a quick thought:
Our teachers aren't stupid! Why do we act like they are and pass laws like NCLB?
The "I" Word
In these trying times, which presidential candidate do you think is better to fix the shanty town we call our economy?
John McCain with his pseudo-free market economic policies?
Barack Obama with his government funded initiatives?
How about neither? Is it possible neither candidate has a plan to fix the economy? More likely is that neither candidate cares enough about the American people to actually fix the economy. I have come to this conclusion after watching the second presidential debate, the debate focused on the economy and how they will fix it.
If you ask any American what really hurts their wallet, without a doubt it will be the rising cost of oil and food due to inflation. Yet at the debate the word "inflation" was not mentioned once, by either candidate. Why is it the single biggest issue facing our economy in the long run was not addressed?
To put this in perspective lets look at some other terms tossed around:
Iran was said 17 times
Nuclear was said 18 times
"Health Care" was said twenty-eight times
War was said twenty-one times
Even Russia got more stage time than inflation with 21 mentions
All of this in a debate that is about the economy! I think its clear what will happen if either candidate is elected: more of the same inflationary monetary policy that go us into this mess!
Both candidates have some explaining to do, Barack more so than McCain as we expect this from the neo-cons, but Barack is promising change and so far He has failed to deliver.
Bob Barr – President – 2008
I have made my decision on who I will be supporting for President this election: Bob Barr. Barr is the libertarian nominee for President of the United States and is the only candidate, save Baldwin, who actually understands what this country needs to survive: less government!
The recent economic collapse, high gas prices, and the imprisonment of more citizens than any other nation on earth are all the result of failed government policies - Barr gets it. Ask Obama, ask McCain, they want MORE government, which will only result in higher prices and more imprisoned citizens for nothing more than marijuana.
Barr would instute a reasonable economic policy which would reduce the national debt, reduce inflation, which would in turn lower prices everywhere; whether it be gasoline or food - which have risen 10% in the last year alone.
Barr would also end the drug war. Granted, I don't use drugs, but that isn't the point. The government has no place in telling private citizens what they can and cannot do to their bodies. Meanwhile, as our liberties are lost, millions of Americans are imprisoned for nothing more than possessing tools to help them relax.
Bob Barr gets it. Though, I must admit, he doesn't have the 30 uear track record which is as spotless as Ron Paul, he is indeed the next best thing. I urge you to vote Bob Barr this election, our country depends on it.
Bob Barr's website can be found at www.bobbarr2008.com