I love my home state of Georgia, but let’s face a bitter fact: Businesses aren’t exactly flocking here and neither are educated people. We’re not the top-ranked state, and things aren’t necessarily getting any better. Every year, our schools have faced massive budget cuts, and despite these challenges, the University of West Georgia has managed to build a successful academic program.

Unfortunately, the latest cuts go way too far. We’re skinned to the bone, and they’re asking for a couple more pounds of flesh from us. As of a few weeks ago, our international students boggled at the astoundingly high cost of a public college education; after all, the rest of the civilized world considers post-secondary education to be a right on par with free speech.

Talk to those same students now and they look at our government as if it’s being run by crackheads. And they might just be right. Really, where is all this money going?

Taxes on cigarettes go up. College fees go up. State benefits for disabled people and the unemployed go down. As a citizen who spends a great deal of time watching state politics, I still have no idea where this cash goes.

I imagine our state congress critters running around on speed boats down the Chattahoochee, snorting coke and giving each other personal favors while smoking weed wrapped in $100 bills. That’s the only explanation. If they have another explanation, my e-mail address is at the top of this article. I look forward to the tawdry stories ripped right out of Penthouse Forum, because they sure aren’t spending the taxpayer money on better police, roads or education.

In the end, though, proposals for making up the shortfall without decimating our schools are buzzing about. One such proposal is a one percent food tax that would cover the entirety of the University System of Georgia’s requested budget cut. I have a few more radical ones:

1) Stop sending Georgia National Guard Troops to Iraq and Afghanistan. Seriously, what do we have to do to get money to spend on our own citizens, blow up our roads and buildings? Seems to be the way that Iraqis and Afghanis are getting our taxes. Do they really have to spend massive amounts of cash by rebuilding other countries while our own is being tossed down the crapper? I think that National Guard troops would be better used at building our roads, to be honest.

2) Legalize marijuana. Seriously, how much do we pay per year to hold weed smokers in jail? And for using a drug that is recognized by study after study as being safer than booze and tobacco? Seriously? Also, we can tax the heck out of it like we do for tobacco and raise gigantic tax revenue in the process. Oh, and think of the increased tourism as people from all over the country flock to Georgia on April 20.

3) Eliminate expense accounts of State Representatives and other elected positions. Seriously, if they’re going to ask us to cut our budgets, then they should cut down on things themselves.

4) Stop wasting money on frivolous challenges to chip away at a woman’s right to choose. For the past decade, these state congress guys have been making little bitty laws with the intent of slowly chipping away at the edges of reproductive rights. These laws have resulted in legal challenges from people who generally take offense at their rights being taken away, and rightly so. But those legal challenges cost money, and I imagine that’s a good place to start looking for wasted money.

At the end of the day, we really need to look sternly at these congress people and write their names down. Post them on your door or next to your computer to remind you who they are and keep an eye on how they vote. If they vote for a budget cut to make Georgia even dumber, vote them out. Doesn’t matter who is running against them, throw the laggards out!

Do these guys even realize that cutting education today will almost certainly mean increased loads on our welfare system? As fewer people can get a quality education, as schools cut programs that allow their students to be competitive in the world economy, and as they continue to cut essential services that allow disabled people to go through vocational rehabilitation to become productive citizens, so will the number of people who qualify for food stamps, Medicaid and other welfare programs.

The shortsightedness of our representatives is abhorrent, and while this editorial may seem to be coarse in its discussion of these issues, it needs to be said in no uncertain terms that this behavior on their part is completely unacceptable. They can find the money elsewhere if they stop thinking outside the Reaganomics box and realize that if we don’t invest in our future now, there won’t be one for this state.

It’s bad enough that my hometown, Monticello, has suffered from similar budget cuts due to decreasing tax revenues, and from increased unemployment. Young people there leave the town as soon as they get their diploma, heading for greener pastures.

If the state government keeps up the same model of divesting from the citizenry, which has devastated small towns around this state, soon young people from all over Georgia will do the same: they will leave the state, looking for a better life in a state that actually cares about its citizens.

Over time, this will kill Georgia. And then who will pay for the funeral?
 

• Facebook Comments
• Site Comments

8 comments

Anonymous

Sun Mar 28 2010 22:39

Jway

So your reasoning is people committing murder is a reason to legalize a different criminal act?

Anonymous

Wed Mar 17 2010 08:52

Where does the money go? Considering over 50% of the budget in Georgia goes to education you have your answer. It is getting a little tiring for people who work in the private sector to hear the teachers and higher education students think they shouldn't share in making sacrifices during tough times. Maybe if I am about to lose my job I can go and petition to keep my job. Teachers and higher education students are not a protected class of workers or people. It is tough for everyone and I imagine if you ask someone in the private sector who has lost their job if they would rather have taken some furlough days instead of losing their job they would choose the furlough days.

Cass Carter

Sat Mar 13 2010 05:17

... is doing her part to prevent negative consequences and doing the best thing possible to ensure they wait until they can handle the responsibility of a child before having one.

"Teach America to wait until they can handle the responsibility of a family or a child before they have one, OR, limit the program to bare necessities. I have two children of my own and one more on the way. THings are VERY tight for us, but I am not asking for a handout. I have taken on another job or cut my cable and food bill and heat bill, because I am an American that chooses to provide for myself. Someone needs to reteach Georgia that we aren't a handout state. Save your tax dollars there. Teach Georgians what it means to be responsible...what it means to have high values for yourself. "

I'd love to live in a world where people reach certain levels in life, and stay there no matter what else happens in the world. I truly wish that world exists. Unfortunately, it does not. We live in a world where someone can have reached a point of relative comfort from their hard work and sacrifice, where they are more ready to have children than most people who successfully raise a family, and then suddenly lose it all because of events beyond their control. It could be an economic downturn of epic proportions precipitated by a housing market sent into overdrive from excessively loose credit, it could be the death of a family member (such as the typical "breadwinner"), or it could be spiraling out of control medical bills which lead to bankruptcy. I've seen all three of those examples cut down responsible, hardworking families who had managed to "make it". No one is immune, no one is safe, and not everyone has family that can save them from being lowered to "asking for a handout".

You might deem it noble to cut and cut and cut without asking for help from anyone, and indeed, that is the characteristic of a proud person who wants to ensure their own independence in all things. Some people, however, do not have that. That is not something that is merely learned-- that is a trait that is ingrained through unique life experiences; experiences that are not common to all. I, for my own part, am single with no children. However, if I were a parent, and the choice came between not taking a handout and providing a balanced nutritious diet for my children, I'd grovel at the feet of any man anywhere to ensure my children did not suffer from malnourishment. I'd do this for any number of social scientific, biological or economic reasons-- but I'd do it first and foremost because I wouldn't want any child to suffer for the sake of my pride.

You probably don't make that choice, and can provide balanced, nutritious meals for your children by cutting the fat in other places. But not everyone is in a position to do so-- Georgia is suffering from serious unemployment problems, not everyone CAN get two jobs in a way that doesn't end up with them essentially working so that they can have enough money to continue working. When I worked at a factory, I saw lots of hard-working folks working two or even three jobs, that were working essentially so they could make just enough money to pay for the bare basics (forget cable TV, some of them didn't even have a phone, and had to call relatives or friends living nearby in order to reach home in case of emergency) for them and theirs and pay for their car so they could get to work, with nothing left to save.

Cass Carter

Sat Mar 13 2010 05:15

"The National Guard isn't used to "build roads." That's the DoT. The National Guard has been primarily tasked with training Afghan and Iraqi forces to take charge of their own security so we can, as you suggest, bring our troops home and cease with the "nation building.""My hardworking friend in the Army Corps of Engineers would disagree. The military, both national guard and all branches of the nation's military have many individuals hard at work at rebuilding operations in Iraq, from roads to water purification (another thing desperately needed here in Georgia, particularly Carrollton). To deny this is to deny their service to this country."But, obviously, this process takes time. To pull our troops - active, reserve and guard alike - out prematurely would create a vacuum of power and organization whereby corruption and evil could once again take control of those countries and continue to pose a threat to the rest of the free world - thereby making our efforts there for the past decade completely moot. It's an investment well worth the tax payers' dollars."There is already corruption and evil taking root there even with the soldiers there. The military is not a social engineering organization, they cannot make people behave themselves. They are there to do a job of providing security while rebuilding the nations they are in; the job of ensuring their governments don't turn into liquid defecation is the purview of the civilian sector, primarily that of the State Department. And even then, that's a question of attempting to persuade people in their government that it's in their own best interest to not listen to Iran's agents. Additionally, sunk costs are exactly that-- sunk. You can't get them back. The hundreds of millions of dollars that are still unaccounted for in Iraq are pretty much lost forever; we can't get them back by spending more money there, but we can keep from losing more there in the future."Beyond that, the Georgia National Guard is primarily funded through federal, not state, tax dollars. In fact, the Georgia Guard contributes millions MORE in revenue to the state than it takes. "Point taken, though, with all those men and women deployed overseas, they probably aren't paying state income taxes (as I recall, taxes on salary earned while deployed are waived during deployments), and they definitely are not paying sales taxes."I agree with the previous comment on leaving our troops there and not coming home until the task is finished. How do you want to look to the rest of the world?"This is crunch time, boss-- we have a choice to make. We can worry about our country first, or we can worry about what other countries say about us behind out backs at the U.N. lunchroom, like geopolitics is some kind of damn high school drama. Georgia roads are looking like Alabama roads, and our state government's trying to make our schools even low-rated. You might want to impress some European Socialist hippies, but I'm worried about saving our country, and more specifically, our state."Second of all, why not change how welfare programs are run. People should be allowed to have welfare if needed and not just becaus they had an extra child."I'm certain your scholarship in the field of welfare benefits is top-notch, but I'm somewhat dubious of talking points that assume that getting any kind of "welfare" is easy. Ever tried getting food stamps even while making half the poverty level? Damn near impossible, in my experience working in the private sector from before I came to college. And it's not because the standards for getting it are difficult to meet for a working person, but that the bureaucracy is arcane and not something I can see too many people navigating with ease. The few people I've met in this life who have managed to get any kind of welfare from this state were people who were in desperate need of it, didn't get nearly enough to cover their needs (let alone get a bunch of awesome freebees), and were kicked off of it at the State's earliest convenience for missing the slightest bureaucratic hoop."For that matter, I don't want my tax dollars going to pay for some young girl's monthly depo shot."I wouldn't, either-- that's just stupid AND unhealthy, as Depo-Provera is a three-month shot. Anyone getting it more frequently than that runs serious health risks and should consult their doctor. Eh, but if I were someone concerned about "welfare mommas" sucking up all their taxes with excess babies, I think a $30 every 3 months to prevent said babies would be more than sensible, especially since on the aggregate, you'd probably pay less than a fraction of a cent in taxes each year to give every female on welfare in the state a depo shot."Actions bring rewards or consequences. Teach America to wait until they can handle the responsibility of a family or a child before they have one, OR, limit the program to bare necessities."I'd say a woman getting a depo shot to prevent unwanted pregnancy...

Jayray

Fri Mar 12 2010 18:28

Legalize Marijuana. It's the next big industry.

Anonymous

Tue Mar 9 2010 22:00

I agree with the previous comment on leaving our troops there and not coming home until the task is finished. How do you want to look to the rest of the world? Oh wait, America is going to pull out of something and leave it half way finished. Second of all, why not change how welfare programs are run. People should be allowed to have welfare if needed and not just becaus they had an extra child. For that matter, I don't want my tax dollars going to pay for some young girl's monthly depo shot. Actions bring rewards or consequences. Teach America to wait until they can handle the responsibility of a family or a child before they have one, OR, limit the program to bare necessities. I have two children of my own and one more on the way. THings are VERY tight for us, but I am not asking for a handout. I have taken on another job or cut my cable and food bill and heat bill, because I am an American that chooses to provide for myself. Someone needs to reteach Georgia that we aren't a handout state. Save your tax dollars there. Teach Georgians what it means to be responsible...what it means to have high values for yourself.

Anonymous

Tue Mar 9 2010 20:40

The National Guard isn't used to "build roads." That's the DoT. The National Guard has been primarily tasked with training Afghan and Iraqi forces to take charge of their own security so we can, as you suggest, bring our troops home and cease with the "nation building."

But, obviously, this process takes time. To pull our troops - active, reserve and guard alike - out prematurely would create a vacuum of power and organization whereby corruption and evil could once again take control of those countries and continue to pose a threat to the rest of the free world - thereby making our efforts there for the past decade completely moot. It's an investment well worth the tax payers' dollars.

Beyond that, the Georgia National Guard is primarily funded through federal, not state, tax dollars. In fact, the Georgia Guard contributes millions MORE in revenue to the state than it takes.

jway

Tue Mar 9 2010 16:59

7,000 people were murdered by the Mexican drug cartels last year because we in the US kept marijuana illegal, many of the victims were children, police officers and politicians. This year the cartels are on track to kill at least 9,000 more. Who supports keeping it illegal?

Add comment


I am not posting spam. I understand posting spam or other comments that are unrelated to this article will cause my comment to be flagged for deletion and possibly cause my IP address to be permanently banned from this server.

Enter the characters in the image above:

log out