Tax Breaks - 5, Education - 0

There's an article in the N.Y. Times today by David Brooks, titled "The Opportunity Gap". In it he points out the disparities between wealthy children and their poorer counterparts. Namely that the parents of rich kids have far more opportunities to expand and grow in their education and in life. But hey, that's the perks of wealth. Then you turn around and hear a lot of people complain that the poor kids are lazy, they're just dumb, they'd rather hang around, collect welfare and have babies. It didn't used to be that way. 20, 30, 40 years ago poor kids tried hard and many made it to the better life. So what's the problem? Well, a big part of the problem is that the rich are able to spend more time with their children, especially at an early age, their better able to spend more time and money on helping with their kid's education, like tutors and exclusive private schools. That's not wrong. That's a good thing. That's what parents should be able to do for their kids. Every parent wishes they could do the same.  But the thing is, they can't. A poor family doesn't have the time or resources to do that. So the kids, many times, convince themselves they don't want those things. That's easier than sitting on the sidelines wistfully dreaming they could be like the wealthy kids. Here's the problem for America. We need to decide whether to throw those kids away, waste potential, or find ways to see that these kids get opportunities to succeed. But you've got to get them young and you've got to convince their older brothers and sisters that there are opportunities for them to succeed as well. I'll tell you how that won't happen. It won't happen if Washington and state capitals across the country cut education funding instead of looking for opportunities to save generations of young people. That's the way to eliminate the need for welfare. The problem is, our elected officials do not have the will to help America be great again, for everyone. It really comes down to a choice. Either pay for smart education or pay for welfare.