I grew up in a town well over 90% white, likely 96% with a few blacks and fewer Hispanics. No Asians. Only Catholics, Lutheran and Protestant churches. One Protestant church attended by only blacks and rarely a black member of the other churches. No other religions. Heck, no one was openly agnostic or atheist. Nobody gay was out of the closet. So, very homogenous.
And, some families struggled and in some "good" families there were kids that struggled. There were food security issues. There were parents that did not value education. Parents that did not seek dental care for the kids. A required physical to participate in Grade 7 sports could well be the first interaction with a physician for a young man or woman.
I cleared hurdles put in front of me. Have done well and presumed was my work ethic and willingness to be coached and seek out better ways to do things that made me successful. I tended to gravitate to other driven people by the time I was in my mid-20s.
Has only been since turned 40 a couple of decades ago that I figured out that while I cleared the hurdles put in front of me and certainly deserve the "atta boys" I get that some hurdles never were in my path. Sort of like the video where the kids are going to race for a prize but before the race starts you get to advance a bit towards the finish line if you had two parents, went to private school, etc. The kid that never advances prior to the race starting may win. The odds are not favorable to a win though a strong finish vs. peers and some of those that even had a head start is likely if apply yourself.
How do we move kids ahead before the start of the race rather than make some kids take steps back to "make it fair"? I support removing hurdles. I am conservative but now embrace the school not only being all year but also providing up to 3 meals a day for K-12. Food insecurity and the pang of hunger is not something a 6 year old or 10 year old should be distracted by during class. I support removing public schools from property tax roles as makes no sense why a 6 year old in one part of town should have newer text books and learning materials that a 6 year old in another part of the same town or state. Think if Post Offices were funded by local property taxes. We all use Post Offices so are uniform in function and offerings. To me, shcools should be the same.
I support law and order and personal accountability. I want a SWAT-like function responding to an active shooter situation, a domestic violence situation, serving a warrant on a person that is likely to use a weapon, etc. I do not need LEO with military gear to respond to a 15 year old girl that was caught shoplifting lipstick at Target. Send a lightly armed or unarmed social officer. Same for writing parking tickets and moving violation tickets. If the parking or moving violation officer suspects there is a heightened risk then can request armed LEO. Responding to an abandoned vehicle, taking a burglary report, escorting a funeral, parade duty? No need for a military-like officer and likely no need to even be armed. Firefighters do not carry Glocks or shotguns and if they decide there is a risk or come under fire then call in the SWAT-like armed LEO. The LEO likely to use lethal force have a more focused mission and train for that rather than train on how to get a homeless person with mental confusion help or how to perform a rolling roadblock for a funeral procession.
Colleges should be year round. Who works in the short summer to pay for college by returning home? You often are living off campus and the rent agreement is likely 12 months so difficulat to return home when paying rent at school. Cut out the summer between high school and freshman year of college and the next two summers and graduate about 1 year sooner so less cost. Why do colleges shut down? We no longer are tending the fields. A factory does not shut down for 20% of the year, why would a school "factory of learning"?
Shut down private prisons. Period. Society needs to run prisons, not a corporation. Privatize road repair or running utilities but not incarceration facilities.
I support free college. Get the grades and put in two years of service in a government organization (military, park service, etc) and you get community college two-year degree sponsorship or apprenticeship to be a welder, etc. Put in 4 years and your get college or university four-year degree sponsorship. No income limit. Degrees are limited to degrees that society values as demonstrated by expected career earnings. Accounting? You bet. Medieval French Poetry...you are on your own to pay for that one but feel free to minor in it. Do your service time, get accepted to school, keep up your grades, get a degree. An educated society is needed for a representative democracy. The cost is huge.
I support a one-payer medical system. My car insurance follows me in my career and has since I was 18 so over 4 decades. I have had 10 employers in that time and not only have none of them offered the same health insurance but most changed providers no less than every 3rd year. Sure, I want to be a smart consumer of medical service but guess what? That surgery by an in-plan surgeon that took place in an in-plan hospital used an out-of-plan anesthesiologist that I never met or had a say in using that day of my surgery. In fact, exactly zero anesthesiologists are in-plan at the closet 5 hospitals that offer the surgery I needed. We screw up the VA and screw up Indian Affairs so takes a huge leap of faith to let the Feds hit me with 5% or more on income to pay for health care but I am spending that anyway with a loss of job before 65 creating a troublesome route to health coverage at anything less than $6,000 a year and $10,000 deductible. There is no free lunch and much like free college we are paying one way or the other for our kids to become educated and for us to have health coverage.
When I see stuff broken, I look for a different way. Some will be better ways and some will be utter crap. Doing the same tomorrow as yesterday gets the same crappy results, though.
