About Fayette County news. (Fayetteville, GA) 2009-current | View Entire Issue (May 31, 2023)
FAYETTE VIEWS A4 Fayette County News Wednesday, May 31,2023 What Are You Going to Be When You Grow Up? CHARLIE HARPER What are you going to be when you grow up? That’s the question the high school class of 2023 has been asked since their young est days. Toddlers seem much more confident in their answers of fireman, astro naut, or ballerina than those in high school. That’s quite understand able, as they’re much closer to making that decision while also holding more real-world understanding of the options available and the difficulties in the journey after choosing a professional path. For those still struggling with this question, some comfort should be taken that most adults don’t have a good answer. You can decide if it’s additional relief or another pitfall in that no one ever rings a bell and says, “Time’s up. You’re an adult now. We need your final decision.” Everyone must make these decisions in their own time. The point of today’s col umn isn’t to say we should quit asking the question, but by the time a student is in middle school, this question should be more focused, with the answer more intentional. We currently spend just left than half of the state’s budget on K-12 education. When we add in our univer sity system and technical col leges, it’s well more than half. Add to that that roughly two- thirds of local property taxes, plus a quarter or a third of local option sales taxes going to local boards of education, and there’s a significant share of state and local investment going into education. We accept that these ex penditures are necessary and are the custom. No matter what is spent, the need is al ways greater. Perhaps gradu ation is a decent time to refocus on why we do this and ask if we’re doing it cor rectly. At the core of our public education system is the un derstanding that we must have a literate society in order to function. The functioning part of this society means preparing the students of today for the workforce of to morrow. The most funda mental purpose of public education is preparing today’s students with the skills needed to be tomor row’s workers. That may sound crass, and some will quibble with the wording, but all the other purposes piled onto the re sponsibilities of our class room teachers have this overriding need at the foun dation of public education. Education is about adding value so that the students in some form add a greater value back to society as adults. We have a student loan repayment problem, because too many have lost focus on See Haper, A5 The House GOP - Living in a Bubble JACK BERNARD “We are also holding the Biden administration ac countable through more than 235 hearings.” An April email from a prominent GOP representa tive (Rep. Richard Hudson of North Carolina) stated the above as a positive. Most Americans who are aware of the nature of these hearings find them counter-productive and a waste of taxpayer re sources (see Navigator/Pew surveys, below). Certainly, the main stream press found them laughable, saying the GOP approach is to “make accusa tions first, get the facts never.” McCarthy and the House GOP leadership states that the GOP-controlled House was “more productive” than when Democrats were in control. They give as exam ples - defunding the IRS staffing increase, ending vac cine mandates, reversing Biden energy policies, stop ping Democrats’ crime pro posals, and preventing transgendered people from being in sports. The problem is not one of these ill-informed policies ever became law. And for good reason - they were to tally partisan and based on emotion versus logic. Just like the GOP House’s refusal to pay our bills (i.e., raise the debt limit, addressed below). GOP House leadership knew their bills would never be approved by the Senate and just passed them as red meat for their increasingly right-wing base. Plus, these were not important issues for the public, per several polls. According to a recent Navigator survey, inflation (56 percent), the economy/jobs (47 percent), entitlements (30 percent), and healthcare (29 percent) are the public’s top priorities. According to the same sur vey, the public does not be lieve that Republicans in Congress are prioritizing any of these areas. Instead, the majority of the U.S. public believes, cor rectly in my opinion, that the GOP is obsessed on counter productive “oversight of the Biden administration.” Ho wever, only 16 percent of voters believe that this “over sight” is one of their own pri orities. A Pew Research poll found much the same thing, with 65 percent of voters worried that House Repub licans would be overly fo cused on their Biden investigations. So, House leadership de ceives their constituents when they state that the GOP House was highly productive and that it “followed through on the commitments we made to the American people.” In fact, it is the least pro ductive and effective House in recent memory, based on House Speaker McCarthy’s own written plan - the GOP’s “Commitment to America.” In fact, there are specific goals set out in the “Commit ment to America” plan to fight inflation, secure the bor der and reduce illegal im migration, give parents more control over education, pre serve our freedom, and sup port Medicare and Social Security. But McCarthy and the GOP-controlled House have failed to address any of these priorities. And, then we have the House refusal to pay our debts. There is no doubt that we should have a balanced budget. But the GOP refuses to raise taxes to do so. And the Democrats do not want to cut popular programs, a posi tion consistent with their voters. For their part, the GOP refuses to identity specific programs to be cut, saying that reductions must be made. As one source indi cated, the potential areas to be cut include “weapons pro grams, servicemember pay, grants for schools that serve large shares of low-income students, rental assistance to house millions of poor and disabled, and money to fund research on cancer and other life-threatening diseases,” plus cutting or eliminating popular programs like Medi caid, renewable energy initia tives, and student loan forgiveness. These actions would have major con sequences, such as 1.5 million needy people losing Medicaid and increasing pollution. In conclusion, the House GOP is purposefully mislead ing its constituents. They know that the only way for our nation to progress is to have reasonable, bi-partisan solutions enacted by Con gress and signed by the Pres ident. That is the exact opposite of what McCarthy and GOP congressional leaders are doing, regarding the debt ceiling and in gen eral. HOLY TRINITY CATHOLIC CHURCH welcome konw. Holy Trinity a vibrant Catholic community in Peachtree City, GA invites and welcomes you to our parish. Thank you for being with us this weekend as we gather together at the table of the Eucharist. Saturday- 4:00p.m. and 5:30p.m. Sunday- 7:15a.m., 10:30a.m. 12:15p.m., 1:45p.m. (Spanish) and 4:30p.m. (Lifeteen) HOLYTRINITYPTC.ORG 770-487-7672 101 WALT BANKS RD. PEACHTREE CITY, GA 30269 Saint tya&Uel 152 Antioch Rd • Fayetteville • Parish Office: 770-461-0492 ^Religiou^ducation^7^6^49^Tax^7^6^374 Weekend Mass Schedule Saturday. 5 pm Sunday. 8 am and 1030 am Seating on a first come, first served basis. Weekday Mass Schedule Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, & Friday. 9 am Confessions Saturdays, 4 pm - 430 pm All weekend Masses will livestream outside (weather permitting) in the courtyard. Please bring your own chair. 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