In developing America's economic policy - how we should tax and spend - our guiding principle should not be "What is best for me personally?" but rather "What is best for the people of our country?" This is but one example of the Golden Rule.
If you have children you have probably made many sacrifices for them. You want what is best for them. You take them to the doctor and you do whatever it takes to keep them healthy. You pay for their education as best you can, striving to find them the best schools to attend as well as to pay for extra experiences that lead to growth and that open opportunities for them -- sports, camps, trips, music lessons -- anything that help them to understand and thrive in our society.
But the imperative of love asks more of us. Do you accept that all of the children in this country are your children? No matter where they live, no matter their race or religion, no matter their family's level of income or social status? Is your heart big enough to want all children to have the finest health care and the greatest education you can afford? Does your heart break when children are hungry or cold or unsafe or unloved?
Universal health care and universal education are not luxuries. We now live in an ultra-wealthy society, a post-scarcity civilization, one that can easily afford to treat every child as if it were our own. Given that, it isn't civilized for us to let our children go without.
No comments:
Post a Comment
I cheerfully concede, for the sake of argument only, my every shortcoming and limitation. In commenting please address the merits of my arguments.