"It's for the Kids"

The following letter to the editor appeared in the March 26th edition of the Eagle Times.

Headed to the polls this March, I faced the perennial “It’s for the kids” line. As a parent of two young children, I found this extremely disturbing. I deplore my children being used as political pawns to elect people and pass taxes that are not in their or my family’s best interest. Such tactics remind me of Joseph Goebbels’ comment: “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.”

When it comes to voting on education issues, parents and grandparents have come to accept the “It’s for the kids” line. Or have they? Such misrepresentation is not a lesson we should be teaching our children. Most of this spending is not “for the kids”. Eighty percent of school budgets pay for salaries and benefits for the “educators” to which we entrust our children 180 days a year. Larger salaries mean larger state budget-busting pensions. These annual pension pay-outs start at age 55 and often exceed ten times the comparable social security payout.

Some voters realize that the “It’s for the kids” line is bunk but succumb to the pressure and manipulation of those to whom they entrust their children. As a responsible parent, I refuse to teach my child it is okay to be used as a political pawn, or to cower to those responsible for their protection in my absence, or that it is okay to be irresponsible with other people’s money.

Our schools have a spending problem. Parents and grandparents have an obligation not to leave our children with a large tax burden when they are adults.

Try as they may, this is one Mom they can’t intimidate or shut-up.

Cathy Peschke
Co-founder Croydon-Citizens for Reasonable And Fair Taxes