Alan Hoskins
Sunday, April 19, 2009
College Advancement
If you’re not happy with the way the U.S. Government is attacking the problem of the struggling economy, you’re not alone.
Rep. Todd Tiahrt of Wichita, who represents Kansas Fourth Congressional District, doesn’t like it either.
“I don’t believe we should have any more bailouts,” Tiahrt told students at Kansas City Kansas Community College. “We should be building from the ground up and not from the top down.”
Noting that the U.S. Government’s spending deficit is already at one trillion dollars, Tiahrt said opportunities must be created.
Boeing got its start in a barn; Chrysler in a garage. If we create opportunities, the economy will grow. If we built [the economy] from the top down, we would be dealing in rubles.
Tiahrt’s visit to KCKCC was one of nearly a dozen to community colleges in Kansas along with the University of Kansas and Kansas State to determine the educational funding needs in the state. “Until I understand the needs, I don’t know the solutions,” he said. “For instance, there’s a big need for nurses in Kansas, particularly out west, and it’s good to know KCKCC has a problem to help this problem.”
vA graduate of Evangel College in Springfield, Mo., Tiahrt said student loans and working made it possible to get through college. “I wouldn’t have made it,” said Tiahrt, who promised continued support of programs that make it possible for students to go to college.
However, he warned that more cutbacks in health care may be coming. “I am very concerned,” he says. “Medicare only pays 70 percent of costs and only four of 10 doctors are now taking Medicare patients.” He also told of one Kansas resident who was being treated for lack of an immune system to fight colds, flu and pneumonia who learned that she no could no longer get the treatment when she turned 65.
On the other hand, Tiahrt also talked about the rapid advances in medicine including a newly researched discovery in which a person’s DNA can be used for tailor-made treatments. Cancer is the No. 1 target of the research but other diseases will come. “It’s only a few years away,” said Tiahrt.
In closing, Tiahrt issued a challenge to the KCKCC students after relating a story about George Washington and his stand at Valley Forge. With his troops cut from 15,000 to 4,000 and cold and hungry, Washington made an emotional plea for the remaining troops to volunteer one more year in the fight for Independence.
The plea fell on deaf ears, not one volunteer. Returning to his tent, he gave one more try with “One what he called one of his worst speeches before asking volunteers to take one step forward. “No one moved until one man in rags and without shoes stepped out – and the other 4,000 joined him,” said Tiahrt.
“One man had made a difference between winning and losing the war. You can make a difference. Stay involved in politics. Let your opinions be known to whomever. And be sure and vote.”