Maine news, sports, weather | Kennebec Journal, Augusta, Maine

Circuses are no substitute for bread

On radio and television, we hear a lot of talk about how low-income people are lazy, looking for a handout, and so on. People who get their information from only such sources will parrot the same opinions, without really knowing what they are talking about.

Undoubtedly, every level of society has some lazy people. The rich kids I went to college with (me on scholarship, them on family funding) often were lazy and certainly felt entitled.

I've also known lots of hard-working poor people, especially here in Maine. People who have never been truly poor have no idea how much effort it takes just to keep a roof over your head and food in your belly, not to mention a reliable vehicle to get you to a job, which may exist some distance from home.

Cutting MaineCare or Head Start are penny-wise, pound-foolish solutions to Maine's budget crisis. We should tax the rich before we start cutting essential services such as health care and education.

If our representatives in Augusta can't muster up concern for the well-being of 4-year-olds, they still should do this for the health of society as a whole.

Nations where people are uneducated, ill and without health care, and struggling to survive are inherently unstable. Such conditions cause regimes to fall.

The Roman Empire learned the hard way that circuses are no substitute for bread. We're headed down that path ourselves, but there's still time to turn around if we do it soon.

Lisa Savage

Solon