So here is the thing I have been thinking a lot about lately. I (we) pay taxes and elected officials decide what to spend that taxpayer money on. So if I (we) don’t vote I (we) have NO say in how my (our) money is spent. Well I don’t know about you but I have a lot of ideas about how I would like to see my money spent. First I will say that I definitely do not want my money spent bailing out failed businesses. Capitalism in it’s purest form means you make money by providing a service that others want. If a company is not providing what is wanted by consumers at a price they are willing to pay and still make a profit, they are not a viable business. I could go on but I choose to focus on what I do want rather than what I don’t want.
I want my taxpayer money to pay for things that benefit me and my fellow taxpayers. First and foremost for me that means schools and secondly safety. We need to have good schools, with good educators, with a good educator to child ratio and all the supporting elements to provide a well rounded education for our children. We need counselors and social workers in the schools not police officers. Our teachers and students should feel safe but the schools should not look like a prison camp with armed guards. Firemen (firepeople?) , paramedics and EMT’s and police officers (safety officers?) should be highly paid and highly trained positions. There should be adequate funding for continuing education in trauma informed care, deescalation techniques, mental health support and evaluations for all of these professions.
I know that some people think that I think too simplistically but from a taxpayers perspective I don’t think I need to be more complex in stating where I believe the priorities should be. Let the public officials work out the details, just put the (my/our) taxpayer money where it needs to be. I think back to stories I read or TV shows I watched about when people were building new communities in this country. When the families started coming in they looked for a school teacher, a doctor and a sheriff. That is how you build communities and maintain the quality. Somewhere along the line ( 1980’s?) our governments put the economy (meaning business interest) above these basics of community and started spending taxpayer dollars on enticing businesses to come to the community (usually by giving them a tax break) and our schools were the first to suffer. Schools breakdown, crime goes up, people leave and the businesses follow that is what I have seen.
A few years ago I remember being completely appalled by the fact that Kansas City spent a ton of money to repair one of the metal sculptures, sitting on top of the bridge by Bartle Hall, that had been struck by lightening. Everyone was so thrilled at it getting repaired. I thought then and still do that the money would have served a much better purpose if it had been put into the school system that is severely underfunded. A lightening strike is an act of nature (dare I say God).
So in this election cycle I am looking for candidates who are putting the people (the taxpayer) first. We need candidates who understand that the community needs have to come before the corporations or city skylines. It is MY MONEY, as a taxpayer, so I AM VOTING ON HOW IT GETS SPENT.
BE FOR KIDS 