United States should invest more in equality, humanity

Editor,

How can we stand here and say that making money in excess of what one individual can use appropriately is more important than caring for individuals with less money, opportunity and means. We must invest in human capital!

I think everyone recognized that former U.S. President Ronald Reagan's fiscal policy of trickle-down economics failed miserably. While many got rich, many more became destitute and impoverished.

The wealthy individuals within our society can drive only so many cars, live in so many houses and eat so much food. Their consumption does not fund better jobs or better living environments for the rest of us. They do not employ that many more people and they do not pay their employees that much better.

While these statements do not stand for every business, these statements do encompass the majority of the corporate business community.

We need a progressive tax system that encourages people who have more than enough to help the government help the have-nots. To distribute these funds properly, we need enough service workers and support staff to reach out to those unlucky individuals, learn what they need and educate them on what society expects from them.

Women and their children are the two groups that need our help and encouragement the most. The areas that women need the most help are in self-reliance and family planning. No one should have more children than they can support. In many cases, it is social pressure and lack of information that cause unneeded and, in many cases, unwanted births. World population growth is phenomenal.

Abortion exists everywhere. Wherever abortion is illegal, maternal mortality is rampant. What do we want? Do we want women to die at the same time as they have their ability to choose taken away or do we want educated individuals who accept their role in society and display social responsibility?

If we as men and women cannot acknowledge that the female gender is as important, if not more important, to our survival as a species, then we might as well give up all battles for equal rights. Because there is no equality until all women are included.

Equality is what life is about! Animals live by survival of the fittest. If we are no better than animals, we should go back to living off roots and varmints. I fear that if we wait too much longer to fight for this cause, it will be too late to turn back from the road we are traveling down. We will be doomed, and maybe the Earth with us!

Jeremy Touloluse

UNM student