So I didn't do my civic duty this year; I neglected to watch Obama's State of the Union Speech. Parenting got in the way, and when I was able to rejoin Obama I realized he was halfway through his speech and I just wasn't that interested.
But I do care enough about our democracy to skim the text while I watched the replay of an altogether meaningless soccer match (FA Cup...has it lost its relevance?). And while I haven't been watching CNN or Fox News or MSNBC, I've been keeping abreast of the news well enough to know how some of my favorite people responded.
Apparently, America, this is our Sputnik Moment (it seems like we've had at least 5 of those...). We are in danger of falling behind to China or India or Upper Malakvia in everything but our obesity rates. Our kids suck at their maths. They don't read too good. We've lost our ability to build things, we've lost our faith in ourselves and what America can be. Now, we must "invest" in our children's education and infrastructure improvements. However, all of this new "investment" must be set against that whole balanced budget bugaboo. If we can do all of this, then America will retain its place in the world.
Of course, I put "investment" in "quotes" becuase "Republicans" think that "investment" is really a "code word" for increased "government spending". Sarah Palin made this point and went so far as to question the President's leadership, saying that what real leadership is deeds and not words. Pretty tough talk from someone who abandoned her position as a public servant to be little more than a charismatic thought leader with a reality TV show.
You know, I got a questionaire from my congressional representative, and on the matter of a balanced budget I was asked "What do you think we should do to balance the budget?" My two options were (predictably) increase taxes or cut spending.
And I ask: WHY CAN'T WE DO BOTH!
I am not convinced that more government is a bad thing. If you look at many of the great things that America has done, you will find that a powerful centralized government is behind them. World War II was bought and paid for with war bonds and huge amounts of spending on defense. After Sputnik, we launched a huge government effort to supply better education to our children and to propel usinto the space race; it eventaully took us to the moon! How awesome is that? How amazing is that? And as to to Civil Rights; a huge, powerful government was necessary to secure and protect everyone's rights and start to begin to reverse years of institutionalized racism (which our government at one point helped protect, one must admit). Government is required to do things that are bigger then ourselves. Without strong government, our largest ambitions as a nation simply will not be realized.
I beleive that it can even be argued that our nation's founding was almost hampered by a lack of government. In "His Excellency, George Washington", Joseph Ellis remarks that Washington was often envious of his British adversaries and the supply, funding, and command system that a strong centralized government could provide. Lucky we were that another strong government (France, of all people) was willing to supply arms, powder, money, and eventually ships and men, to help win our independence (I am not saying that without France the war would have never been won....but I do find it interesting that the degree of French intervention is often understated, if not totally overlooked). Little wonder that when our delegates sat down to write our constitution, after the years of drift under the weak articles of confederation, Washington and others crafted something with a stronger dose of federal power.
Look, I am not advocating a European system where we all have to pay 75% taxes and we get all kinds of services in return. Those systems are probably unworkable in America, and as we have seen they can have problems of their own. But I do think that its naive to believe that in this day and age we can get by with the small government of Thomas Jefferson or George Washington. To borrow a phrase from Clay Jenkinson: that was a 3 mph world. That type of government is not suited to a 300 mph world.
If some of the greatest things our nation has ever done have had heavy government involvement, they have also been marked with incredible sacrifice. Thousands of men sacrified their lives for freedom in Europe, the Pacific, at Antietam and Gettysburg, and all over the world. Today, as you read this, the men and women of our armed services are risking their lives or preparing to risk our lives, ostensibly fighting for the freedoms we enjoy. Getting to the moon took hard work as well as the loss of some lives. Civil rights were paid for with blood and bravery, prison terms, ordinary people doing extraordinary things.
Maybe, if America is to have a great future, we should all be willing to sacrifice in ways that so many have before. Some of us may need to work a little harder in school, turn off the TV and put down the I-phone and actually do some math. Some of us may have to learn a new trade in school. Some of us may send a son or daughter to war. Some of us may have to take more responsibility for ourselves becuase we can and go without entitlements that someone else desperately needs, and some of us may actually to have pay some taxes.
I am continously befuddled by the fact that we are so willing to wrap ourselves in the flag and send our best and brightest to kill and be killed, and yet when someone wants to raise sales taxes to help provide better education or a more affordable college degree, or if someone wants to put tolls on a bridge or raise the gas tax, we act like the world is ending.
If we really want a balanced budget, if we really want to secure our future, both sides have to own up and make some sacrifices. You can't get there by cutting spending, and you can't there by just raising taxes. In a spirit of sacrifice, we must find a way to do better. You can't have it both ways.
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