I also am tiring of the blame game, but alas it is campaign season and it is part of the process.

1. Identify an issue / problem that a majority of folks (voters) agree upon
2. Blame the other guys / gals — It is their fault.
3. Promise to fix it when you are elected / your party is in power
4. Repeat … Repeat … Repeat — If the facts are not quite right, just repeat a few more times.

Oh yeah, I forgot the part where they ask for money to keep up the fight against those other guys, you know the ones that want to ruin our lives, country, etc.

Ultimately the States, by law, have to balance their budgets each year. Do some cut their noses to spite their face when it comes to federal money? Sure, but there is going to be some belt tightening, and often there is money to be found. My state, Utah, has determined that message bills and law suits are more important than several other priorities. Not education says our filibuster proof conservative state legislature with the governor seemingly ready to rubber stamp what ever comes out.

Therefore we have the lowest per capita spending on education (K-12). But we are a pro-family state, and education is our “highest moral responsibility”, in fact we have a Prosperity 2020 agenda that places a target of 67% of the adult population having some sort of post secondary education or training. Meanwhile we have class sizes that in some schools approach 32 pupils per certified educator (Note: this includes principals, librarians, couselors and reading specialist), meaning the actual classrooms have closer to 35 students in them. That’s alright though because we can always have a computer teach the children.

I believe that these public officials need to be looking for efficiencies that will allow for the budgets to be tightened, also having some money set aside for lean times is always beneficial. What I do not see as correct, is wasting money on frivolous messages, that have the limited revenues from both sides (Tax Dollars), being spent to argue points that should be able to be handled in a less contentious (expensive) manner. Shoot, a local municipality hired a lawyer to sue its own lawyer because an elected leader was being investigated for fraud, or corruption, and would not turn over paperwork to the council on the investigation. I am sure that there are many that can provide other examples of waste in the governemnt sector, so ultimately we — the voters — need to identify our priorities, and the n vote for those that actually have a specific plan to meet those goals.

Good luck finding that person — Specifics can be attacked, and are not often shared.

Have a nice day!