If a child were walking on the edge of a cliff, you would want to pull him back and teach him it is unsafe so he would not fall. How would you help him understand the danger? Maybe tell him stories or show him pictures or many other ways. One thing you would not do is push him off the cliff so he would learn not to stand near the edge — you would not permanently injure a child so he would learn not to hurt himself.
I appreciate Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s concern about our state budget, but the line-item vetoes he has implemented have the effect of pushing the state off a fiscal cliff in order to establish a responsible budget. Gov. Dunleavy’s vetoes are destroying the state in order to preserve it.
In order to remain a great state, social and physical infrastructure must be maintained. Alaska businesses are dependent on successful individuals and families. To remain a strong state, state institutions that support individuals and families must be maintained. The University of Alaska, local schools and other family-supporting organizations will not recover without spending far greater funds than have been cut and “saved.” It will be far more expensive to recover failed systems than to maintain existing systems. Not only money will be needed to restore destroyed organizations — it will take years to put them back in place. While this is happening, businesses that need an educated population are not going to survive in state. Strong families that are concerned for the education of their children will find a way to leave.
Education and social services are essential to the continuation of a successful state.Legislators, please put back funding cut by the line-item vetoes and support our great state of Alaska.
— Margaret Oswald
Anchorage
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