Rallying

Lately we’ve seen a lot of rallying going on across the world. But I have to ask myself, does it really work?

While the protests in Egypt were, for the most part, peaceful, other nations haven’t been so lucky. Whether that was on the part of some protestors resorting to violence or the governing regime abusing their power, it seems that any protest walks a fine line. Today our church along with many organizations, concerned parents, students and teachers are going to our state capital today to advocate to keep funding for current programs to feed children who otherwise would go hungry. I realize the correlation between the protests in the Middle East and here in Washington State are hard pressed, but they are both based off of the people’s response to their government.

While I am not on that bus driving up to Olympia because I have to work this afternoon, my partner and many of our friends are. This isn’t uncommon in our church either, and certainly not the first time we’ve driven to our state capital to make sure our voices are heard and to speak with our local representatives and senators. We’ve gone up many times as part of the Religious Coalition for Equality on behalf of the LGBTQ community for equal marriage rights and to fund sex education in schools beyond the Just Don’t Do It curriculum the previous administration instituted which resulted in the highest teen pregnancy rates this country has seen in fifty years.

We all know the budget is in crisis due to high unemployment and a shrinking economy, but do we have to sacrifice our children in order to appease the No-Party’s spend-without-funding attitude? I don’t think so. There is far too much evidence to suggest that kids who are fed without fear of going hungry do better in school and are much less likely to have behavioral issues to simply decide that during a time when, arguably, there are more kids in need of free breakfast and lunch programs, to cut them out to make a miniscule dent in the state budget.

I find it interesting that even though nobody wants higher taxes, anytime we are in need of making budget cuts we undermine our kids the most. Whether that is by taking away funding for education by slashing programs and teachers and making classrooms unmanageable and unteachable because they are just too big, or by taking away breakfast and lunch which, to many kids, are the only meals they may get that day. Any talk about lowering our staggering defense budget is immediately wrought with the same rhetorical response that we are at war. Well, true, but not with Japan or Germany, so why do we still have massive military bases in those countries? I can understand the logic of strategically locating our military all over the world, but when we spend well over fifty percent of our national budget on defense and less than six percent on education, healthcare or even programs for our returning veterans, there is something inherently wrong with the system. Yet any talk of reducing the military budget is balked at, even though reducing it by a small fraction, even just five percent, would add an incredible amount of money to fund our children’s education and help our veterans receive the help they need and deserve. Take another five percent out and we’d probably be able to make sure that every citizen in this country has access to quality healthcare. Amazingly this would still keep our defense budget in the United States of America at almost forty-nine percent, still much higher than any other nation in the world, and yet we’d be able to do so much more.

While I am all for raising taxes to pay for things to keep and improve our country’s infrastructure, I am much more in favor of spending those tax dollars wisely. What I don’t understand is why the privileged feel they are entitled to basic human rights not afforded to the less fortunate, when more than likely it was on the backs of those people who helped make them. I guess when looking at the big picture, I don’t see how taking out a fraction of a percent from the state budget in order to ensure that tens of thousands of children go hungry every day is the right choice to make, but then again, we did elect these people to make these decisions for us. However, it is our job to make sure that they act on behalf of our wishes.

If you want to make a difference, let our elected officials know. Let your voice be heard. Write a letter, call their offices, rally on the front steps of the capital. Be aggressive. A government of the people only works if the peoples voices are allowed.