Good Educational Policies of Lyndon - Essay Example

The Government: Lyndon advocates for the need of the American society to make the government responsible for its activities. Lyndon advocates for the pursuit of good educational policies that can help the society to solve the various problems that it faces. The strengths in his speech revolve around the following stimulus (Johnson, 5). Mr. Lyndon Baines identifies three areas upon which he believes development should focus on, that is, the cities, the countryside and the classrooms. In the cities he first identifies the social ills that could derail the system from attaining its developmental agenda. These decays included the despoiling of suburbs, there wasn’t enough housing for the people and transport sector was eroded with traffic (Johnson, 9). Open land was vanishing and landmarks were disappearing. In addition, expansion as he stated was eroding the values and morals of that society. But upon stating these, Lyndon saw a power in innovation and education as the key sources of inspiration and change. He also identifies the need to restore natural resources to their initial beauty. Natural resources form the bedrock of most lives in the cities. For Lyndon, without the natural resources in place no government can function effectively (Johnson, 11). He identifies the importance of education to the growth of his government. For him, the desire to have a vibrant and growing generation of skilled human capital rest entirely on education. Evidently, no government has ever been successful without education of it masses. Still on education, Lyndon notes the fact that, the cost of education is limiting most high school graduates from pursuing their dreams. For Lyndon, success in education can only be achieved if the education is cheap and produces quality citizens that can build the nation for generations to come. Mr. Lyndon sees classrooms as being overcrowded (Johnson, 14). The best method to solve this problem is to build more schools, and classrooms. Better training for teachers, giving youth room to enjoy their leisure and exploring alternative mechanisms for education which according to him will stimulate the love for learning and capacity for creation or innovation. Lyndon exempts himself from issues to do with racial segregation in the education sector (Johnson, 22). The problem of discrimination along racial lines had affected American systems to the extent of schools being allocated certain races at the expense of others. The same schools were overcrowded as he mentioned earlier on and facilities were very much limited. The speech talks less of how budgetary allocations to be made. This is for supporting the committees established to discuss the progress on education. Other than speak of youths enjoying their leisure time Lyndon say nothing on how he believes that the gaps in employment are going to be remedied (Johnson, 27). Increasing human capital without creation of opportunities in the labor market makes the whole system boredom. Nothing is mentioned about budget spending on other issues and for Mr. Lyndon, the government works as an entity over the people. He is the head of government, but he does not recognize the problems facing the people through the government. Ronald Reagan was a political powerhouse who believed in peace and tranquility that was vested entirely on a people derived source of power (Reagan, 11). His thoughts and attributions were never limited to the system of government but instead he chose to believe in the power made from the people and for the people. Within his speech, he identifies the problems facing America, but before that he identifies America from the rest of other nations of the world as an epitome of peace and tranquility especially when it comes to election period (Reagan, 16). First, Reagan identifies that the country experiences one of the worst inflation of its history (Reagan, 19). Inflation results to an increase in the standards of living, and it affects every member of the society. In addition, Reagan attacks the country’s tax system and sees it that, it defrauds the productive population of its hard earned wages on labor. But great is America’s burden on public spending as compared to tax burden. As per the year of 2010, the Federal Government had approximately 4.3 million employees. This was a considerable number of people, and it had an impact of increasing the budget of the Federal Government. This huge number of employees is an indication that the government would spend a considerable amount of money on paying salaries, as opposed to initiating development projects. This meant that reducing the Federal budget, without reducing the number of its employees would hurt the economy. This is because there will be little money to use in initiating development projects. Reagan believes that it is the duty of the society to hold the government accountable for its actions (Reagan, 22). People should work together, as a nation for purposes of finding a solution on the various problems affecting the society. Collaboration and togetherness according to him are the keys to a successful society. Reagan believes that, the government is the problem to development and solutions do not come from the same failing system but from the owners of power themselves (the community). The issue of equitability can only be addressed if members of the society could believe in themselves and not the government for everything. Reagan also touches on effect of terrorism on an economy. The Bush administration felt the highest pain in terms of terrorism attack. It prompted on people to start to think about solving their problems alone without the need of the federal government’s aid. Communities aligned themselves because of fear of failure by the government to protect its citizens (Reagan, 21). The weakness upon this speech is on action collective problems. Reagan forgets that those deep lying problems in the system that hinder growth historically. For instance, racial discrimination to opportunities could trigger mass action in the society. A notable example is the one that occurred in Ferguson Missouri, municipality where riots resulted after the shooting of a young unarmed black teenager by a white policeman. The government cannot be the source of all problems. Peoples’ problems are defined by the decisions they make and the responsibility they have upon such decisions. Reagan also exempts himself from the government and states of how it has failed the masses not forgetting that he is now the head of the same system. Should people stop believing in the government? Who is going to listen to their problems? Lyndon believes that government is the engine for driving towards better life (Johnson, 22). To an extent this is practical considering how big systems have enabled citizens to achieve better lives. What happens if a country lacks a government, there would be no laws being corrected, order would be mostly wanting and representation would be lacking. If America would have gone the line suggested by Lyndon, the country would be in problems. Equitable resources allocation would be lacking, corruption would rule offices, the tax burden would be greater because of high public spending in unnecessary rallies. Terrorism would find loopholes in the system and attack at any moment. Individuals would be self-centered and seekers of personal satisfaction at the expense of others. Racism scales could skyrocket. Morals could be lacking. Actually life would not be happier either people would depend on their governments to solve social problems that could be solved within a community (Fahrenthold, 11). For instance fire protection. These could see the rise of activists and social movements as is evident in American history and the rise of collective action problems. Mass action could make the go because individuals lack a means of airing their views. According to Reagan, community ownership is the only way to solve issues in the community. His approach is sensible and mostly practical. The government as seen prevents people from living good life. Community challenges like fire protection, water and insecurity could be handled from a community point of view. For example, community policing has been identified as the best practice, in handling insecurity. For instance, it was possible to prevent the 2001 terror attacks if the communities around the city were to be involved in matters security. This approach offers more opportunities to every person and no one pays higher than the other. It is more equitable. Life could be full of meaning in Reagan’s eyes. The only problem was how to strike a balance between the two-government and community. But the resultant is the best. No system can be said to be acting alone. Problems in the government spread to the community because the government is made up of members of the community. If people were allowed the opportunity to work for themselves rather depend entirely on the government for development policies and practices then the world could be safer and equitable. The Reagan approach is the best approach because it limits the collective action problems by members of a community and gives opportunities and equality to all. The only challenge though is how to balance community functions and government functions. Works Cited: Fahrenthold, David.. "After six budget showdowns, big government is mostly unchanged." Washington Post. The Washington Post, n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2014. http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/after-six-budget-showdowns-big-government- is-mostly-unchanged/2013/08/23/97d90578-0068-11e3-9711- 3708310f6f4d_story.html?hpid=z1>. Johnson, Lyndon. "American Rhetoric: Lyndon Baines Johnson -- "The Great Society"." American Rhetoric: Lyndon Baines Johnson -- "The Great Society". N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Oct. 2014. . Reagan, Ronald. "American Rhetoric: Ronald Reagan -- First Inaugural Address." American Rhetoric: Ronald Reagan -- First Inaugural Address. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2014. . Read More