Change Without the Pain? Is It Possible?

This weekend I took life pretty easy. Painted my room, and watched football. I am starting to make the transition to life here, but I always mess myself up with thinking about what I will do after I leave. It's silly since I have 10 months left. That’s a long time before I even need to think about things. It is a real lesson in living in the moment, taking life one day (if not less) at a time.
I actually listened to the whole presidential debate on Friday. I find it interesting that the word change, or new direction, is mentioned by both candidates. I also hear the same old thing about tax cuts, one for the lower and middle class, the other for the upper class. But there is little talk about cutting the defense spending, and little talk about where we will get the money to pay for tax cuts. It should be apparent to us by now that any time we cut taxes, other services suffer. Sooner or later the funding cut from small programs won’t give us the money to pay for the tax cuts.
And it’s the small programs that help those who need it, victims of our economy, our health care system, or just life itself. I am not sure of specific answers, but I believe it has something to do with what I mentioned earlier this week, planning our path instead of just enacting laws. If we want to cut taxes, let’s plan for it. Let’s make sure that we can find the money and not assume the tax cuts and “good charity” by Americans will make up for the loss of money by charitable organizations.
Let’s also hold the charitable organizations accountable for the funds they receive. Let’s make sure that when supporting a geographic area, we aren’t duplicating efforts among different organizations. Let’s make sure organizations work together to deliver more comprehensive coverage without diluting funds. Competing for the small amount of funds does not service those it should effectively.
Coming up with an idea and actually enacting it effectively are entirely different activities. It takes planning and thought about the impact of such changes to be successful. We need to take care of those who are impacted. We need to help those who need it feel proud of both themselves and the country they live in. I believe in the future that the strength of our country will come from our ability to show the world our humanity, both at home and abroad. And that will only start when we put humanity into our policies by taking into account those who have no voice.