Politicians sacrifice students’ needs
Nathan Humphreys
Last year was the year of hope and change.This year will also be a year of change, and sacrifice.
Faced with a budget deficit and a constitutional mandate to balance the budget, Arizona citizens will have to sacrifice funding for some programs, and that means that students will have to make reasonable sacrifices as well.
Faced with an economic melt down and the growing realization that there are limits to what even the federal government can spend, this nation will have to make similar sacrifices.
Sacrifice can be going without luxuries, helping out others through acts of service, or even giving up hours at work so coworkers can retain their jobs.
Instead of sacrificing a part of themselves for others, some politicians are eager to sacrifice others to meet their own agendas – sacrificing long term success in exchange for short term appearances- the modern day equivalent of throwing helpless villagers into a fiery volcano.
Right now, there are lawmakers in the state who would like to see education sacrificed to appease the budget gods.
There are legislators in Washington who, despite the urgings of economists of every political persuasion, are fighting the public spending stimulus plan because they would rather sacrifice the nation’s economy than compromise their ideology.
As students, it is imperative that we pay close attention to every word, action and vote made by our politicians inside our state and in Washington.
We must let our elected officials know that if they choose to sacrifice the quality and reasonable affordability of our educations, or if they choose to sacrifice our economic future, that we will pay them back in kind by sacrificing our time, money and energy and using our voices and votes to insure that petty, small-minded, short-sighted politicians will be purged from our local and national capitols.
