In the midst of changing and sometimes turbulent times, the low income members of our community are being asked to manage with much less and under much duress. The number of children in Chautauqua County living at or below the poverty line is 19.5%. The number of children in the city of Dunkirk living at or below the poverty line is 35%. These numbers should cause much distress to the residents of our county and as we look at the trends across the country; and to our nation as a whole. Our children are our greatest natural resource and hold the future success of our country in their hands. Are we developing this resource, are we protecting this resource? Will we be competitive in the global market in the future if our greatest resource, our children, are deprived of opportunities that afford success?

Our country is managing a war overseas, a homeland security effort that has strained taxpayers, and we are trying to deal with federal, state and local deficits. President Bush announced recently on national television that no expense would be spared on the war in Iraq, he said no expense would be spared to fight the war on terror and to protect homeland security. He recommended that Congress cut spending to deal with the deficits. If we are not going to cut defense spending, and we are not going to cut new security spending, and we are proposing massive increases in foreign aid to re-build the caves of Afghanistan and an under developed Iraq; those spending cuts must mean domestic cuts. President Bush did not clarify at the time of his public statement, but his budget proposals indicate major cuts toward the low income population in our country and in education.

The President seeks to reduce federal spending and government involvement in the lives of American people. He promotes policies that would lead the nation back to a status that existed before President Franklin Roosevelt initiated the New Deal. The debate as to the size and scope of government should be conducted along side studies and statistics that demonstrate the changing social structure over the last 50 years in the United States. What do our policies look like and do they reflect the needs of the citizens of our country as it exists today. Have we reviewed and planned a social policy that addresses the needs of working families, the needs of urban and rural Americans, allows small businesses to thrive and expand across the land?

These are bi-partisan issues and should be addressed by social scientists and policy makers together. We can no longer deal with deficits by targeting a segment of the population with the lowest voter turnout and put the brunt of the cost on them, with the hope that they will not vent their wrath at the polls and cost policy makers an election. We cannot afford to rebuild the under-developed nations of the world and allow our own to fall into disrepair.

Whatever those policies be….we need, as a nation, to have clear social direction. That direction needs to be based on clear, educated and calculated judgments that will lead us toward overall prosperity and a strong global competitive position for the next fifty years.