A friend of mine back home is expecting his first son in six months. The moment he takes his first breath, he will owe more than $50,000 to the national debt. Less than two years ago, that number would have been below $45,000.
The obvious problem with debt is the obligation to pay it back. The more dangerous issue is the many other ways researched and agreed upon by macroeconomic experts proving this will destroy our economy if unchecked.
Wall Street, unions, greedy corporations or corruption in Washington, D.C., are not responsible. The fault is on us for electing representatives who tell us what we want to hear instead of protecting our constitutional right to the pursuit of happiness. This is our fault for valuing sound bites over solutions and empty promises over past results.
Entitlements, welfare and unemployment are bankrupting a nation long past broke and keeping people in a cycle of poverty for generations.
That is dwarfed by national-defense spending that outstrips the rest of the world combined, justified by a revolving door of wars that our foreign policy instigates and those in power justify.
This is not about a party, a candidate or an action. This is about asking everyone, before voting, to educate themselves about the realities, of both America’s economic situation and the character of our candidates.
Think about our future before thinking about yourself. If this direction continues, when my friend’s son reaches adulthood, we will have experienced a collapse making 2008’s seem trivial, and American prosperity will be remembered but not experienced.
Jacob Meyer is a junior studying political science.
