A world of necessary evils

In this world there exist certain necessary evils that we must accept. War is one of these. It is vicious and evil, what we must do at times to fight a greater evil. Yet war can produce good: it can save nations and lives, or dispense justice, for moral reasons, for political or economic security or as a deterrent.

Abortion is another necessary evil. If one considers a single-celled organism a life, albeit not human, one must agree that fetus is also a life. Not only is a fetus a life, but it is just the first of the many stages of life. In a way, a fetus is simply a stage of human development, not unlike a six-year-old child, despite the fact that humans are not fully developed until their early 20s. But few want to go back to the days of back-alley abortions, so abortions must continue as a necessary evil in our society for the moment.

Still we should not only work to make the operation few and far between, but we must take care of the unloved young lives that do make it out of the womb by improving orphanages, strengthening adoptions, making all education first-class and providing children with health care.

There is another necessary evil: government. Government is an entity born from the evil of men. It exists to restrain men and women from themselves.

This restraint is the necessary evil. It restricts our freedom and takes earned money and distributes it for other means. Because government is a necessary evil, not unlike abortion or war, it should be used sparingly. But, like war, government can and should be used for good.

I'm a conservative who believes that government can be both limited and proactive. Government can be a tool to help society progress but at the same time maintain an independent civil society.

Education is a necessary investment. I believe the main tenet of Republicanism since William Henry Harrison and conservatism since Reagan is individual self-empowerment. It relies on the axiom, "give a man to fish, and he'll eat for a day, teach a man to fish, and he'll eat for a lifetime."

Rather than dealing with individuals when they're on welfare or throwing them in jail, maybe we should consider investing in them when they are young. We need to trust and love children, but we need to verify that they are in fact learning. We must do this, not only by investing money, which goes into strengthening a defunct bureaucracy, but investing in structural reform.

Only by fixing the structural aspects of our public school systems will our money is be put to good use. When we have developed an educated and competent workforce, a strong and innovative economy will result. Our education system currently exists as fit for the industrial age, while in a post-industrial economy. Our public and private leaders, the citizenship and civil society groups must have an honest and proactive discussion over the next few years about how we will update such a system.

Our nation must be open to the possibility of completely tearing down the existing public education bureaucracy and creating something completely new. Complete privatization is not a solution to our education problems. Because America has committed to democratic governance, which is reliant on an educated population, all legal American citizens have a right to an education. It is the right of democratic peoples. For the benefit of our society we must ensure quality education: For that reason, merit pay, school choice and competitions should be included in the discussion for reform.

Key to establishing an educated America for the 21st century is higher education. America has some of the best institutions of higher learning in this world, but our community colleges leave much to be desired. There are so many individuals who may never be able to afford or have the academic opportunities to go to the top universities. That does not mean they should be bereft of a quality higher education that can teach critical trades that can benefit them in the workplace.

There are many way to strengthen community colleges. One is offering tax rebates to academics and professionals who teach at community colleges. We will also need to increase funding, including targets for info-tech job training.

Reforming education from kindergarten through college will not be an easy task - neither was defeating the Nazis or Soviets, splitting the atom or landing a man on the Moon. Our nation will need a similar mobilized effort that is focused on achieving results. No one party or element of government can come up with a solution, but we must begin the dialogue now, before time runs out.