How Can a Country Choose to Neglect the Least Able? Thoughts on Current Political Situation

 

Photo by Author: Serenity at the Falls

Just a thought about our current state...

The question is certainly being asked, "How can any politician create and vote for a budget that knowingly cuts funding for programs that clearly serve the least-able among us? In addition, "How does one justify in one's own mind that millions of people lose medical coverage or food access at the same time providing tax relief for those who are least in need?"

It's rather simple, as Nobel Prize economists Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson write in "Power and Progress" (2023):

"...the socially powerful often convince themselves that it is their ideas (and often their interests) that matter and find ways of justifying neglecting the rest."

In other words, those in power have so convinced themselves that their ideas and interests matter over everything else. They then turn to ways of justifying the neglect of others in this pursuit.

This suggests that those lead totally lack any humility and have no problems even exploiting others as long as their interests are served and their ideas win the day. No discussion, no deliberation, it's only about mine.

So it is in modern America.

NC Governor Bev Perdue’s Career and College (Empty) Promise

As a high school principal, it is glaringly clear to me that we’ve got to find a way for high school students to earn college credit while still enrolled in high school. Before the imploding of the economy, and massive budget cuts, my students had several options to earn college credit both online and through a local community college. Now, there are no opportunities for my students to earn college credit.

When Governor Bev Perdue announced a few weeks ago her Career and College Promise program, I was excited because perhaps now,  there was a way for the students at my school to earn college credit. Alas, it was not to be. Governor Bev Perdue’s Career and College Promise program is heavy on the “promise” but weak on the “delivery.”

According to her own web site, the main components of Governor Perdue’s Career and College Promise initiative includes:

• Students can earn tuition-free course credits toward a four-year degree through North Carolina’s community colleges.
• Students can earn tuition-free course credits at a North Carolina community college toward an entry-level job credential, certificate, or diploma in a technical career.
• Cooperative innovative high schools (limited availability) Students begin earning tuition-free college credits as a high school freshman by attending a cooperative innovative high school.

Students may not be paying tuition, but they are still paying “fees” and for textbooks. But let's even look at a more deceptive statement right from the governor's web site:

“Eligible high school students can begin earning credit at a community college campus at no additional cost.”

What is wrong with this statement? It’s the “no additional cost.” According to my local community college, there are additional costs. There is a $26.25 “fee” for each course, and students pay as much as $150 for textbooks.


I understand that my students still are getting college courses much cheaper, but my real problem is how governor's rhetoric misleads the public and especially the parents of my students. I’m the one who has to tell them that Governor Perdue’s “promise” is not entirely true.