Dear Editor,
The budget crisis that the government continues to perpetrate on us has moved from mindless to mean spirited. Mean spirited and it’s hurting people. Things have to change big in order to save the state. Seriously. Now. This is a mess, seriously. It’s been a mess for a while now. It’s a mindless mess. To say we have cut off our nose to spite our face is the understatement of our times.
It is time to be mindful, to plan and move ahead with foresight. It’s not about taxes versus service cuts. There is even less to cut. This is a mess and now we all have to pay to fix it, call it taxes or reparation. We all have to pay for the mess and there is nothing we can do about it.
There are, however, ways we can start paying for the mess: in the mindless fashion or the mindful way. Let’s try mindful, just to be different and brave and bold. We could try.
A mindful way could begin by listening to the economic experts from the legislature itself or any of the major universities. Listen to the experts that have been screaming for a while, all over the place, really, that the stuff isn’t working. It’s past time for our revenue system to reflect the ways that revenue is actually generated. Not new, different. It could be all right. We could listen to common sense. I know, bold and brave again. But we have some sense, we could use it. Common sense says that there are two points to money, getting it and spending it. Choices are made. If it doesn’t work out, lower expenses and get some more money. It may mean getting a part time job to supplement or getting a new job altogether. It could mean moving to a smaller house. In the end there are some things that simply must be paid for to survive and some way to get the money to do it.
Mindful would be to carefully think about expenses and prioritize of course. But, there is more to it than dollars. Governments generate money to help people. Decisions also have to made about how important it is to help people. How bad do people have to need it in order to provide it? Who’s deciding who is worthy of what? Is this our highest good? Are we proud of this mess?
Mindful is making investments in the future. It’s paying for infrastructure. It’s about our children for goodness sake. It’s about each other. Without roads and education, and all necessary things that government does to help people. What else could there be? Mindful sees the connection to all the parts that have to work together. We all have to work together, seriously, we do. We could try.
Mindful is not the opposite of creativity. Brainstorming is clearly called for here. It’s moving way beyond the prisons of tax or cut. That’s just holding us back. Ask people their best ten ideas to get us out of this mess. It would be amazing and probably fun. It wouldn’t be any worse.
Tari Muñiz
Lansing, MI
To the Publisher,
I enjoyed reading the story in the last edition (February 14, 2010 – February 27, 2010) about your daughter and your wedding dress. I am wondering when you are going to write a book and compile the stories that you have been writing for the last 9 years?
Carolyn Warfield
Lansing,MI
Thanks, but no plans to write a book at the moment.
