The Times Should Be A-Changin’

Abstract

As we begin the New Year, we look forward to some difficult times ahead. The excesses of unbridled capitalism, primarily manifested in Wall Street greed and high-stakes gambling in the housing industry, threaten the traditions and institutions of future generations. Although we should be poised to pursue the dreams and aspirations of increasingly well-prepared children, we face dismal prospects of ongoing recession and looming budget cuts in government. Budget cuts proposed by privileged men in high offices threaten the well-being of vulnerable children, women, and minority groups. Bailed out industries continue to profit and distribute obscene bonuses to those responsible for catastrophic decisions. Stakeholders were left with empty promises. In the aftermath, some are trying to balance the budget on the backs of children. The atrocities of the 9/11 disaster threatened our collective well-being and confronted our beliefs in a just world. Other nations embraced America and prepared to support us through difficult times of recovery. Unfortunately, men of privilege and greed seized on the disaster to promote a culture of fear. Fostering an illusion of imminent demise justified another generation of warfare with dead children in foreign lands and disabled veterans trying to find their way home. Next came the assaults on human rights and civil liberties. America narrowly avoided the loss of essential identity, which is simply expressed in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, in the rush to protect us from real and imagined enemies. We eventually traded international good will for enmity and suspicion. American leaders protected our future by violating the basic traditions and boundaries that define us as a people. The governor of the state of Mississippi, like the privileged executives in some other states, is seizing opportunities afforded by financial fears to restructure public services. Nationally, the American people invested billions to protect merchants of greed at the cost of health, education, and welfare for future generations. The Mississippi governor would like to balance the budget by consolidating historically Black universities, eliminating traditions and identities shared by those who struggled for civil rights and their families. He would eliminate the unique identity of Mississippi University for Women by making it a branch of Mississippi State University. Critics of consolidation argue that there would be little or no financial benefit. If there were savings, they will not be realized until 2012, when the recession is over (Lynch, 2009). Governor Haley Barbour, a former Washington tobacco lobbyist, who is being touted as a presidential hopeful, proposed reducing school districts in the state from 152 to 100: placing authority in the high-performing school districts and eliminating the troubled, underfunded, frequently poor and rural districts. These reductions call into question if all students will have equal access to academic and support services. Equity can be sacrificed in times of financial exigency. The Mississippi governor proposed eliminating state services and facilities for delinquents, blind and deaf children, disabled citizens, and others in great need during hard economic times. Governor Barbour wants to close four of the state’s Department of Mental Health facilities, six crisis centers, and two branches of the state hospital (Lynch, 2009). This budget saving would ensure that chronically mentally ill persons are imprisoned in harsh jail settings or released to suffer on the streets. Powerful men advocate ongoing industrial and technological developments with tax incentives. They would feed the children with the crumbs that fall from the table. Patriarchs retain their privilege through attempts to control scarce resources: subjugating women and children and other vulnerable populations in the process. By creating fear in the great middle class, it is possible to blame the victims for their distress and protect the interests of affluent White men who have not forgotten the old ways of getting things done. Fear and threat are the tools of the politician. If we assume the best case scenario that the proposed budget cuts are only shrewd political moves that are unlikely to be accepted by the Mississippi legislature, one is left with a painful awareness of how little some of our leaders care about those