What a difference a change in administration can make……

I am trying really hard to get more interested in politics. I fear that we will have another repeat of the 2000 elections where one candidate got the popular vote and the other got the electoral vote. The one with the electoral votes won. I see the same trends happening with the current election. I have to educate myself on the issues and become more involved in the process. I do not want another four years of Bush and if I get it, I want to be prepared for what is going to happen.

To better educate myself, I have been reading about other presidential administrations of the past. I wanted to find out what programs they implemented and how a change in administrations affected those programs. I did find some interesting things. One example is as follows and shows how quickly things can change or be done away with a change of administrations.

In 1964 President Lyndon Baines Johnson proposed a concerted government campaign to eliminate poverty. This was known as the War on Poverty. The result was the enactment of one of the most significant pieces of social legislation in the 1960’s, the Economic Opportunity Act of 1964. This was implemented to coordinate various programs to eliminate illiteracy, un-employment, and the chronic conditions of poverty.

In the early 1970’s, after a change of administrations, President Richard M. Nixon transferred many of the agency’s projects to different departments of the federal government and ended others; most of the projects were considerably reduced in scope and funding. In 1974 the O.E.O itself was disbanded; its few remaining programs were taken over by the newly created Community Services Administration.

This shows how important it is that we choose our next administration carefully. I read the other day that if we took 30 percent of the world’s military budgets we could easily solve most of the world’s social problems such as poverty, hunger, and homelessness. 30 percent is not a large amount in the grand scheme of things and would do a world (pun intended) of good. A change in administrations could very well start us down this path of change.
I also want to see a shift in equality in our nation back to what our fore fathers intended. I want every man equal regardless of his wealth or material possessions. It is way too easy to buy yourself into office and buy favor within our current system of government. People of wealth and power have too much control over those that live on less. The Declaration of Independence stated, “We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal.” These words do not mean that all persons are alike because we know that everyone is unique. These words do tell an important message: That all people are born with equal rights. I want this ideal to be held in esteem again.