A Rant

Sorry for yet another depressing post. This has become my sole outlet for getting out my fears and frustrations. Well, I guess it's become my primary means for communication of any sort these days.

I usually watch the State of the Union Address. I don’t know why, because for the most part it’s completely meaningless. It’s just one big made-for-television spectacle. Tell the gullible people what they want to hear, and then it’s back to business as usual; back to doing what’s best for a select few and most decidedly not what’s in the best interest of the country as a whole. It’s the same with all the grandiose promises made during campaigns. It all sounds wonderful and inspiring, but in reality very few of the promises ever come to fruition. Mostly because it's not realistic for the president to make all these promises since Congress has more power when it comes to passing legislation. But the main reason is because Congress spends most of their time bickering and name-calling and spewing the nasty rhetoric that seems to dominate politics these days. Heaven forbid that the two parties might actually work together in an attempt to pull the country out of the economic mess we’re in. No, it’s more important to badmouth the other party and prove how morally superior and righteous their own party is and how devious and immoral the other party is. Screw the people. The promise that our government is supposed to be “of the people and for the people” is bull$hit.

So, what was one of the main points President Obama made over and over in his recent State of the Union Address? Education. Education is the way to pull the country out of the recession and make our country great again. We must educate our young people. We must make education available to everyone. We must improve the quality of education in our schools. So, how in fact if this going to be done when year after year education budgets are slashed? Teachers are laid off and class sizes increase. Tuition is raised year after year. State scholarship funds are cut. And now I read that the Republicans propose cutting Pell Grants. How does this improve the quality of education? How does this help make education available to everyone?

I realize the national debt is an urgent problem that needs to be addressed, and that government spending needs to be brought under control. I understand that. But the proposed 100 billion in cuts will gut the government and push us even further into the recession. There are obviously no easy answers, but making wholesale cuts at a time when the economy is so vulnerable makes no sense. The bottom line is that most people no longer have faith in our government, which is a sad thought.

Year after year my kidss hear all the depressing economic news and about all the cutbacks to education. And year after year I keep telling them that it’s just a matter of time until the economy improves and that by the time my youngest graduates from college that there will be jobs available. I keep telling them to have hope. But it’s getting really tough to continue encouraging them when things only get worse and there are no signs that the situation will improve anytime soon. How can I tell my sons to have hope when I’ve lost hope? And I know it doesn’t help that it’s become apparent to them that I’m losing hope. I’ve tried to not to let it show, but it’s become a losing battle, which makes me feel even worse.

How did I let my life get away from me? When did it become so painful to simply exist from day to day? I don’t seem to have the answers for anything these days.