You and your parents must also now be experts in the staggering cost of tuition, books, and living expenses.

It used to be that going to a state school was inexpensive, and if you lived at home and/or had a part-time job you could emerge from college without much debt. That must seem amazing to current students.

Something isn’t right when students who can perform at a college level, have an interest in learning more, and need a college degree to obtain a decent job face so many obstacles.

It’s not good for our whole society, since an educated work force is key to our future prosperity.

I’ve heard some older people complaining that today’s young people have it too easy. They question how teenagers can afford expensive coffee lattes, cell phones, MP3 players, laptop computers, and their own cars.

But every youthful generation has its own pleasures and legitimate needs. Many of us older folks spent plenty of our teenage allowances or summer wages at the record store for Elvis or Beatles songs or at the soda fountain counter for raspberry cokes that gave us a mouthful of cavities.

But we didn’t have to mortgage our future in order to attend college. It was expensive, but nothing like what it is today.

A couple of weeks ago, as part of the new health care and education reform legislation, President Obama signed into law major improvements in financial aid for college students.

Here’s how the President described it:

“You see, for almost two decades, we’ve been trying to fix a sweetheart deal in federal law that essentially gave billions of dollars to banks to act as unnecessary middlemen in administering student loans. So those are billions of dollars that could have been spent helping more of our students attend and complete college; that could have been spent advancing the dreams of our children; that could have been spent easing the burden of tuition on middle-class families. Instead, that money was spent padding student lenders’ profits.

“… I didn’t stand with the banks and the financial industries in this fight. That’s not why I came to Washington. And neither did any of the members of Congress who are here today. We stood with you. We stood with America’s students…

“In the 21st century, when the success of every American hinges more than ever on the quality of their education, and when America’s success as a nation rests more than ever on an educated workforce that is second to none, we can’t afford to waste billions of dollars on giveaways to banks.

“We need to invest that money in our students. We need to invest in our community colleges. We need to invest in the future of this country. We need to meet the goal I set last year and graduate more of our students than any other nation by the year 2020…

“By cutting out the middleman, we’ll save American taxpayers $68 billion in the coming years — $68 billion. That’s real money – real savings that we’ll reinvest to help improve the quality of higher education and make it more affordable.”

The new financial aid legislation isn’t as big an improvement as many of us would like, but it’s a major step in the right direction.

All Senate Republicans, including Scott Brown of Massachusetts and Judd Gregg of New Hampshire, voted against this legislation.

Luckily for the future of our country, there were enough brave Democrats in the House and Senate to lead the country forward on health care and financial aid.

Most of us have forgotten – if we ever knew – the big fights that had to be waged for almost every major program that benefits Americans who aren’t rich. Social Security, Unemployment Insurance, Medicare, are all examples of improvements in Americans’ lives that our country was able to bring about when a Democrat was President and Democrats were in the majority in the House and Senate.

Democrats have a record of helping young people afford college in ways that our whole society benefited from. If you doubt that, check out the history of financial aid in this country.

As Democratic President Lyndon Johnson said, “We believe, that is, you and I, that education is not an expense. We believe it is an investment.”

 We saw the Bush tax cuts give back thousands and thousands of dollars to the rich and a pittance to most Americans.

 Our country piled up debt while the rich piled up more wealth.

 Executives who didn’t believe in public service were put in charge at the highest levels of government. 

 Volunteer soldiers were sent to fight a reckless war with inadequate plans and armor, while private-sector military contractors were paid enormous sums without proper accounting controls. 

 Good-paying jobs became scarcer.  Public education suffered.  Many Americans lost the ability to get decent medical care. Government scientists were overruled whenever private profits were threatened.  The twin dangers of dependence on foreign oil and climate change were ignored. 

 It’s not just that forward progress was blocked. We fell backward.

 Readers of this column can easily list more examples of how our good country grew weaker during that Republican-led period.

 A few days from now, President Obama will have been in office for three short months. While hiring his top managers, he is dealing with unprecedented national and global problems—a legacy of the previous Republican administration.

 Obama has appointed well-qualified people to lead the myriad functions of government, most of which languished from lack of leadership and resources during the Bush administration.  You won’t find anyone leading FEMA whose previous job was Judges and Stewards Commissioner for the International Arabian Horse Association (remember “Brownie, you’re doing a heck of a job” of Hurricane Katrina?).

 Our President is taking action (including international diplomacy) to try to prevent the global economy from spiraling further down into a nightmare depression. 

 Last week, the House and Senate approved budgets incorporating many of Obama’s priorities for next fiscal year.  Not a single Republican voted in favor.  Although individual appropriation bills to be enacted later will determine the details, the budget resolution provides guidance.

 As Obama stated, “This budget resolution embraces our most fundamental priorities: an energy plan that will end our dependence on foreign oil and spur a new clean energy economy; an education system that will ensure our children will be able to compete in the economy of the 21st century; and health care reform that finally confronts the back-breaking costs plaguing families, businesses and government alike. And by making hard choices and challenging the old ways of doing business, we will cut in half the budget deficit we inherited within four years. … Like the families we serve, we must cut the things we don’t need to invest in those we do.”

 It’s interesting that once again Republicans’ proposals to fix the economic crisis are to shrink domestic spending and … you guessed it, cut taxes (on the rich). It’s amusing to hear Republicans like Senator Pence of Indiana now say “Let’s not borrow from the next generation of Americans”—since he was part of the Republican Congress that supported Bush’s irresponsible tax cuts and mismanagement of resources.

 Thanks to Democrats gaining seats in Congress in 2008, Republicans aren’t able to block every initiative of Obama’s, but they still hold a powerful negotiating tool—the Senate filibuster—since Democrats don’t hold 60 seats in the Senate.

During the Depression of the 1930s, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt faced relentless hostility from the Republican Party when he used government investment to improve the lives of Americans who were suffering from lack of jobs and food and housing.  Republicans called him a “traitor to his class.” Yet virtually every American living today has benefited, in one way or another, from that “traitor” who reduced poverty and broadened the middle class.

We can expect intense Republican resistance to the change that Obama is working on—change that we who voted for him asked him to bring about.

Be sure to listen to Obama’s own explanations of his policies and programs rather than hear about them through Republican talk shows.  Take a few minutes out of your week to watch his press conferences on TV (a big change from the Bush years!) or get them via podcast or transcript. You’ll find very interesting material at www.whitehouse.gov, including Obama’s weekly Saturday address.

The more you learn, the more you’ll see how President Obama is working for the common good.

Will it be the economy? Health care? What about global warming? Will he take bold steps on one or two big issues in his first months in office, or will he proceed cautiously on many fronts? Will he concentrate on short-term needs, long-term strategies, or both?

In some ways, President Obama will face problems that are similar to that of a family suffering from a devastating drop in income.

The struggling family needs to buy groceries, pay the mortgage, get medical care when sick. The family car may need to be replaced to allow commuting to a job farther away. A host of problematic details present themselves daily, such as coming up with money for after-school programs, getting new sneakers for growing feet, paying the oil bill, fixing a leaking sink, paying the vet for mandatory shots for the cat.

The family also must decide whether to continue its monthly savings plan for the children’s college education and the parents’ retirement.

It’s clearly impossible for the struggling family to craft a list of priorities in neat numerical order. It’s a balancing act.

Like many parents these days, Barack Obama will confront compelling priorities competing for constrained resources.

What would Barack Obama’s presidency be like if he had followed Bill Clinton rather than George Bush?

He would not be inheriting the devastation caused by eight years of Republican government (“We’re all on our own”), the astronomical deficit, the economic crisis caused to a large degree by greed and the ideological bias against common-sense regulation.

He would not be inheriting the tragedy of a reckless and ill-planned war. He would not be inheriting federal agencies which many conscientious and hard-working public servants left when science was suppressed by political hacks.

Alas, Obama comes after eight years of reckless and, in fact, immoral leadership.

President Obama, Congress, and “we the people” must deal with our country and our world as we find them today.

In spite of the deep, deep hole that Obama has volunteered to get us out of, here’s what we can expect: Barack Obama — with the help of our Democratic Congress — will work for the common good.

Like the loving and pragmatic parents of a family struggling financially, he may ask us to hold back on some of our requests so that other needs can be handled first. He will talk with us honestly about what needs to be done. He will work on immediate problems and also watch out for the needs of the next generation. He will urge cooperation, understanding, and hard work.

Obama will keep up our spirits during a difficult time and, I hope, we will help him lift up our good country — with a Democratic emphasis on the common good.

He was the governor who seemed to have done good things in Texas and claimed a “bipartisan” approach to governing. He looked genial and good-humored—the folksy candidate most voters preferred to have a beer with.

Now that we have experienced the Bush Presidency, it’s interesting to reexamine what the Republican candidate said during an October 2000 debate with Democrat Al Gore:

“Spending money is one thing, but spending money without a strategic plan can often times be wasted…”

“I want to rebuild the military to keep the peace. I want to make sure the public school system in America fulfills its promise so that no child, not one child, is left behind. And after setting priorities, I want to give some of the — some of your money back. See, I don’t think the surplus is the government’s money. I think it’s the people’s money. I don’t think the surplus exists because of the ingenuity and hard work of the federal government. I think it exists because of the ingenuity and hard work of the American people, and you ought to have some of the surplus so you can save and dream and build.”

The contrast between Bush’s words and his actual “leadership” is painful—

Lives lost and many irreversibly damaged as a result of a reckless “war on terror.” Extreme mismanagement of the Defense Department. Soldiers sent off without adequate equipment while military contractors making millions were inadequately supervised. The budget surplus left behind by Democrat Bill Clinton squandered, leaving our next President with a deficit as far as the eye can see. Enormous tax cuts for the richest. Millions of children left behind. Many more Americans without adequate health care. Transportation systems crumbling. Tainted food supplies. “Home ownership” replaced with home foreclosure.

An even more colossal deficit than was anticipated just a month ago.

Now we see the results of out-of-control deregulation and the consequences of fixating on private-sector solutions to public services, as well as the Republican Party’s perennial hostility to the United Nations.

But make no mistake. The conditions our country is suffering from now are not the result of one misguided, reckless, and incompetent leader.

For most of Bush’s Presidency, Republicans held all the reins of power, since they also had a majority in both houses of Congress. They appointed thousands of people sharing their ideology, including judges who will rule on the bench for years to come.

It has taken time for the gross mismanagement, suppression of scientific knowledge, and myriad falsehoods to come to light.

It was only when Democrats gained a slim majority in Congress that many basic questions could be raised there. At best the questions are now being partially answered (Republicans can still filibuster in the Senate).

This fall, as in every election, the essential choice is not between the candidates’ personalities or styles. It’s a choice between the Republican and Democratic political philosophy.

A President and his party may occasionally be at odds, but that is the exception to the rule.

Republicans stick together. Remember—after McCain lost the Republican primary in 2000, he campaigned for the Republican nominee, saying Bush was ”fully prepared to restore integrity and respect to the White House.”

But when Bush entered the White House, he brought back to Washington shiploads of former Republican officials, including Dick Cheney, and newcomers like the Republican lawyer for the International Arabian Horse Association who did a “heck of a job” in New Orleans.

If McCain should win the Presidency, expect more of the same.

Consider a candidate who would select as the person next-in-line to lead our country someone as inexperienced as Palin.

What does that show about the kind of appointments McCain would make to the Supreme Court, Environmental Protection Agency, FEMA, heads of Social Security and Medicare, IRS, Food and Drug Administration, Secretaries of State and Defense, Ambassador to the United Nations…the list goes on.

The Republican philosophy in a nutshell is “You’re on your own” — unless you’re rich and powerful and suddenly feel a need for government’s helping hand.

The Democratic philosophy is to work for the common good, and Democrats have a record of concrete steps toward economic fairness and prosperity for all.

Be sure to review the actual accomplishments of each party before you vote on November 4.

1. When does Massachusetts next elect a Governor?
2. When and how is the Democratic candidate for Governor chosen?
3. What do Romney, Swift, Cellucci, and Weld have in common?
4. What do our President and Governor have in common?
5. What is the importance of our Governor nationally?
6. Why does the choice of Governor matter?
7. What will the next Democratic governor have in common with Clinton, Carter, Johnson, Kennedy, Truman, and FDR?

Answers:

1. Tuesday, November 7, 2006.

2. The September 19 primary determines which candidate becomes the Democrat on the November ballot. If you’re a Democrat or a voter who hasn’t chosen a party, you can vote in September to help determine the outcome.

3. Weld, Cellucci, Swift, and Romney have all been Massachusetts governors. They are all Republicans.

Each became bored with the Governor’s work, declaring “mission accomplished.” Each shares the Republican philosophy that private incentives are the automatic solution to most of society’s problems.

They projected an image of competence. It’s hard to think of accomplishments. It’s far easier to see evidence of what they allowed to slide.

Since they served one after the other, for 16 years they’ve hired the leaders of state agencies and many other employees, spanning a wide array of services: public health, public higher education, revenue collection and distribution to cities and towns, public safety, highways and bridges, environmental protection.

In most of these areas, we’ve gone backward during their 16 continuous years of “leadership.”

We’ve lost jobs and population. Public health and environmental programs have been cut. Public colleges are increasingly unaffordable. Bridges are in disrepair. Community hospitals have been closing, and more residents are without health insurance. Cuts in local aid have left municipalities struggling.

4. Our President Bush and Governor Romney are both executives responsible for the effectiveness of public services. Both are Republicans and promote the Republican philosophy of government.

5. Governors have political clout on the national scene. As Governor Romney said recently, “Having more Republican governors means more Republican congressmen, senators and better support for the presidency.”

6. Like the President, Governors are responsible for appointing the leadership team of the executive branch.

They can work hard to improve services or they can let things drift.

Governors determine priorities and the effectiveness of services.

Their threatened vetoes can suppress progressive legislation.

They decide how to allocate funds appropriated by the legislature, which projects to push and which not to push.

They can use the “bully pulpit” to promote their agenda, since a single voice and face are easier for news organizations than scores of legislators’.

7. Like our next Democratic Governor, the last six Democratic presidents (four had been governors) were chief executives known for moving our society several steps forward, for the Common Good.

Roosevelt planned and won a mandatory war, led the formation of the UN, created Social Security, unemployment insurance, minimum wage.

Truman increased the minimum wage, expanded Social Security, desegregated the military, and signed the Marshall Plan.

Kennedy was responsible for the Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, the Peace Corps, scientific advancements.

Johnson gave us Medicare and the Voting Rights Act of 1965, expansion of federal aid to education, and antipoverty programs.

Carter’s administration was responsible for an increase of 8 million jobs, a decrease in the deficit, a national energy policy, expansion of the national park system, strengthening of Social Security, appointing record numbers of women and minorities, and an emphasis on human rights.

Under Clinton, the largest budget deficit in American history was converted to the largest surplus, 22 million new jobs were created, the unemployment rate was the lowest in thirty years, and higher incomes benefited all types of workers, not just those at the top.

All chief executives are constrained by conditions they inherit – including the economy and the composition of the legislature – as well as the length of their time in office.

In spite of challenging circumstances, all these Democratic chief executives made our nation stronger, and our lives more prosperous and secure, because they worked for the Common Good.

Their Democratic values can be seen in what they chose to make priorities.
 
If you agree that on balance our country made progress under Democrats Clinton, Carter, Johnson, Kennedy, Truman, and Roosevelt, doesn’t it make sense to try out a Democrat as governor for the first time in twenty years?

We probably gave them the jobs because we liked what they said. They were friendly and self-confident.

Sometimes the failings didn’t come to light for years.

We realized, later, that we shouldn’t have based the hiring decision solely on what the applicant told us.

By learning more about competence, character, background, and motives, we have a better chance of making a wise decision and getting good value for our money. That’s why employers check references.

So too when we hire political leaders we should pay attention to their prior performance and values, because we’re entrusting them with actions that affect us and our posterity.

The poor job that our Republican government has done is now obvious to most Americans. The hurricanes exposed incompetence and underfunding in programs intended to protect us. A few of the falsehoods have resulted in indictments.

Let’s look at only five of President Bush’s past statements (since space is limited):

“Compassionate conservatism places great hope and confidence in public education.”

“The Iraqi regime . . . possesses and produces chemical and biological weapons. It is seeking nuclear weapons.”

“Veterans are getting very good health care under my administration.”

“Our government must work to make college more affordable for students who come from economically disadvantaged homes.”

“Our … goal is to promote energy independence for our country, while dramatically improving the environment.”

We the People are responsible for our government’s performance review. Let’s look at the facts:

• After touting “No Child Left Behind,” this administration preferred to give tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans rather than adequately fund a program to improve public education. As Senator Kennedy says, “You can’t reform and improve schools on a tin cup budget.” Money doesn’t solve all educational issues, but it does make possible smaller class sizes, textbooks, and an enriched curriculum.
• This administration was bent on war and went to great lengths to stifle the facts. We were told Iraq put us in imminent danger with weapons of mass destruction.
• Veterans’ clinics were instructed not to publicize the availability of services – to save money.
• Students know the reality – that college has become less affordable since Republicans took control of the Presidency and Congress. Just this week Republicans are proposing further cuts in student aid.
• The GOP invited private corporations to write our nation’s energy legislation, while Mother Earth’s icecaps are melting. Practical steps, such as increased gas mileage and improved public transportation, are given lip service.

America could have avoided this disastrous government by looking carefully at the history of the Republican Party during the past 75 years.

In its actions, the GOP has shown over and over that it doesn’t value programs that serve the public, especially when they interfere with increasing the wealth of the already rich.

If we look at the agenda that this administration has pushed the hardest, we see that the primary motive was to reduce the taxes of the wealthiest Americans– even if that meant a burgeoning deficit, cuts in education, cuts in veterans benefits, cuts in anything that benefits the general public.

When the Republican Party says we can’t do X because we need to “reduce the size of government,” or we need to “reform” Y, remember its motives.

A leader’s accomplishments depend greatly on the philosophy of his or her political party.

Whereas the modern GOP has institutionalized selfishness, the Democratic Party has worked for the Common Good, as demonstrated by the achievements of Democratic administrations (which most Republicans fought tooth and nail): Social Security, unemployment insurance, minimum wage, Medicare, Civil Rights, consumer protection, environmental defense, and fairness in business).

Next time you hire political leaders by casting your vote, think long and hard about the motives of their political party.

Consider which party comes closer to the objectives expressed by our Founding Fathers:

“We the People … to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

If so, you may not realize how different life could be if – while you were growing up – political power had been used for the common good.

If you’re 18, you were born during the presidency of Republican Ronald Reagan. You were probably learning to tie your shoes during the administration of Republican President George Herbert Walker Bush, father of George W. 

If you’ve lived here all your life, you’ve had a Republican governor ever since you began to talk.

When you began elementary school, our country elected a Democratic President – the only Democratic president in your lifetime. The Senate and House were controlled by the Republican Party during most of Bill Clinton’s presidency – which prevented moving ahead with health care initiatives – but for a time poverty diminished, the middle class grew, we had a budget surplus, and America’s leaders were respected by other nations.

Since 2000, our national government has been run entirely by the Republican Party:  a Republican President, Republican Senate, Republican House, and Republicans in leadership positions across the federal government.  

We’re fortunate to have Democrats vigorously representing us in Massachusetts, but Republicans have the votes in Washington and the power of the executive branch, including our corner office in Boston.

For most of your life, the Republican Party has determined the public priorities and the hiring of public officials – even investigations into the incompetent handling of national security and disaster relief.

You’ve been a witness to the Republican “ownership society” – which to most of us really means “We’re all in this alone.”

If you’re in college, you probably have signed large loans in order to pay for tuition, textbooks, and living expenses. You’re likely to be working too many hours to take full advantage of golden opportunities to learn and make lifelong friends.  

Affording college has always been a problem for those who aren’t rich, but your generation has had it the hardest since World War 2. At public colleges, funding has been cut, forcing schools to raise tuition and fees. Federal student loans have been cut at the same time.

Are you able to see a doctor when you’re in serious pain? If you have insurance, what is it costing you and your family? During your lifetime, there’s been an enormous increase in the number of uninsured Americans, and in the cost of premiums.

What about a job that will allow you to cover your rent and gradually pay off debt? We’ve seen a burgeoning of part-time jobs with low pay and few benefits during these “ownership society” years.

Even the best employers are struggling under the burden of paying employee health insurance, which means they’re reluctant to expand jobs.

In the “old days,” before you were born, there was a long period after World War 2 when average people could afford a decent apartment in the city they grew up in.

Tuition at public colleges was low. Federal loans allowed many to graduate from college with little debt.

It was customary for employers to provide health insurance.

Usually workers received annual raises that allowed them to stay ahead of inflation.

Bridges used to be kept in good repair. Local fire and police protection were considered high priorities.

The country was reducing air and water pollution.

When deterioration in public services is gradual, or all you’ve ever known, it doesn’t seem like a crisis – until a televised emergency like Hurricane Katrina exposes the decay.

It’s fair to say we’re in a crisis when it comes to all public services.

The “ownership society” has turned us into a debt-ridden society. The tax cuts given to the very wealthiest Americans while the US is fighting a staggeringly expensive war have caused our government to pile up debt. You and your future children will be struggling with that deficit for years to come.

In the name of an “ownership society,” Republicans are mortgaging your future in terms of education, health, income, security, and environment.

If you look at America’s progress during Democratic administrations after World War 2, you’ll discover ample evidence that the Democratic Party works for the common good. Against vehement Republican objections, our party fought for economic justice and civil rights. Your parents and grandparents benefited from Democratic policies.

Once Democrats regain power, you’ll start to see improvement. It won’t be an immediate transformation, because we have many years of neglect to overcome. But we’ll be taking steps forward rather than backward. Our leadership won’t be down hill!