Friday, March 14, 2008 | I read the article about state budget cuts in education and how they are having a particularly heavy impact on Curie Elementary. I recall how Arnold swore to the voters of California that school budgets were sacrosanct. I guess we should all be used to our elected officials breaking their promises. It’s become part of our political culture. An honest candidate has a tough time getting elected to any office. The political expediency of bleeding the school system is pretty clear. There really is no “organized” special interest group protecting it. Nobody cares now, but they will. Someday this will all come home to roost. We forget that the world is a very competitive place. Places like India and China are investing huge sums of money and resources in education infrastructure, while we pump up government-funded retirement scams, welfare programs, and pork barrel projects. Of course it will take a bit of time before we feel the full impact of our errors, but it will be felt, and it will be painful. We will see our competitive advantage in the sciences and high tech industries slip away, and our standard of living fall. And as the changes come, nobody will understand why it’s happening. The fear mongers will blame the straw man of the day (maybe a big fence along the border will help), and the voters will continue to vote for hollow promises. Nobody will ever acknowledge that our plight was caused by a shortsighted misallocation of tax dollars away from the one natural resource we have that can be enhanced with comparatively minimal investment: our children. But why bother? We need to keep funding the construction of more prisons and government shrines while our American dream slips silently into oblivion. Way to go, Arnold!
But wait. We actually do have a choice. Vote the bums out. All of them.