Education, public safety are excuses to cover up for brash spending.

Another day and we are bombarded from all sides to approve Proposition 100 “so that our children can get the quality education that they deserve”. One only has to read Sen. Ron Gould’s column on today’s Editorial Page in the AZ Daily Star to understand just how baseless this assertion is. He starts out with the question that do we ever wonder why every tax increase is needed for education and public safety. In short he states that it is no accident that the question is posed the way it is. “Think about it - if you were asked to raise your taxes to continue to fund wasteful spending, how would you vote? You and I both know how we would vote; we would vote no. In reality, you ARE being asked to raise your taxes to continue wasteful spending.”

Sen. Gould hits the nail right on the head when he chronologizes the governments spending spree during the past 5 years. He summarizes by stating that “during the last five years government spending increased, outpacing inflation and population growth by well over 100 percent.”

One only has to look at the national statistics on education within the state to realize that throwing more money at the problem is definitely not the solution. A previous article clearly show that we either have the “dumbest kids in the country or the worst teachers, or possibly a combination of the two”, and I leave that up to you to decide. But for my 2¢ worth, I have yet to find a child that didn’t thirst for knowledge. Their brains are like sponges and they soak up everything that comes along. Presentation with passion is what we appear to be lacking; instead we get higher taxes so that we can throw more money at the problem.

Fortunately, or maybe unfortunately, I happened to be watching TV last evening and happened upon the movie, “Stand and Deliver”, a hyped up bio about Jaime Escalante, the charismatic former East Los Angeles high school teacher who taught the nation that inner-city students could master subjects as demanding as calculus. Perhaps we need more teachers like this?

He wraps it up with: “Please join me in voting NO on Proposition 100.”