Christianity and Politics

Mostly, everyone reading this has a decent life. We don’t need to worry about how we will pay for our next meal. We don’t hear on a regular basis how a neighbor was killed or raped or burglarized. But we don’t have to go far to see just that. New Jersey has the dubious honor of having the most dangerous city in the country, Camden.

It doesn’t take much to figure out why. Camden is one of the poorest cities in the United States. When I travelled to India I was horrified to look out of my luxurious hotel window and see the skinny skinny pregnant women living with their families in their tiny tents along the city sidewalks. Families lived in tents not large enough to stand up in. I wonder how long it will take for Camden to become like that. What can we do to prevent it?

Let’s start with education. Governor Christie has slashed billions in funding from the School Funding Reform Act (SFRA) of 2008. The SFRA reads “Every child in New Jersey must have an opportunity for an education based on academic standards that satisfy constitutional requirements regardless of where the child resides, and public funds allocated to this purpose must be expended to support schools that are thorough and efficient in delivering those educational standards. In turn, school districts must be assured the financial support necessary to provide those constitutionally compelled educational standards.” Tell me, how can this be accomplished without funding?

The SFRA was passed by both Democrats and Republicans so why is it being trashed without a replacement? If Governor Christie has problems with the SFRA why doesn’t he fix the problems rather than slash the funding?

Governor Christie sends his children to private school. Is this the future of education?

Excellent education should be provided to all citizens through college. If we want our country to be the world leader, we need to be the leader in education. Regardless, unless we want Camden to remain the most dangerous city in the United States, we need to provide better education.

World Class education will cost money and the richest Americans will have to pay their fair share of taxes. Think of all the jobs in education that will be created to reach the goal of having the best education in the world!

The Courier Post Online reported last week  “Gov. Chris Christie on Monday vetoed Democrat-backed legislation to increase taxes on millionaires to pay for tax cuts for almost everybody else, the centerpiece of a day of political bickering and accusations but little action over the principles and politics of taxes. It was the third year in a row that New Jersey’s Democrat-controlled Legislature passed such a bill and the third year in a row that Christie vetoed it.”

Granted, that money wasn’t earmarked for education but it sends a message: helping poorer people is wrong and helping rich people is right!

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I find it funny that the face of Republicans is Christian given they ignore the needs of the poorest people. Please don’t say these conservatives are being fiscally responsible because the same can be said about slave owners; it is much cheaper to own people rather than pay them if only because the owner decides when medical services are needed.

Finally and seriously, can someone please tell me why Republicans are so intent on controlling women and women’s bodies! The religion thing really doesn’t make sense to me at all.