How about nation building at home?

How about nation building at home?

       I presently live in Appalachia, and we could still stand a good dose of nation building right here, like new schools and bridge repairs and replacements for example. After all we are both growing in population, and wearing out our infrastructure things. These are both normal things.  And we could use old fashioned ideas like laws and policies that promote and reward things we want done. And even I understand vast amounts of tax and borrowed dollars have been paid in the past.  But it doesn't take more spending programs today. This is not rocket science. And it will take time, which we have. And politicians will have to revert to more old fashioned things, like debating and fighting for their priorities.  And I can imagine state taxes going up as federal state block grants decline. I can imagine I might not get the local high school rebuilt when I want it done.

            I read today that the State Department is spending $500,000 on jobs in Belize, which is in Central America. Americans worked to earn and pay taxes to pay this bill. While the intent is quite good to me (a working person is more likely not a criminal), I question why them and not our home USA. It sure looks like a lot of USA urban areas could stand a dose of nation building in the form of job training and fixing our education and jobs problems and homeland security. How about our hearts and minds, too, like at home.

            Perhaps we have too much tax money to where we now appear to have other priorities in spending  it? So what's wrong with having priorities, and the priorities should be the USA. Maybe even the "take home the bacon" idea for elected USA politicians has gone too far? Perhaps our American culture needs a shift? Being cold and hungry will change a lot of voting patterns, or so I think.

            If it takes such extreme examples I now read about, like cutting back taxes to force the issue, or expanding our House of Representatives from the 1911 law, or even moving our Capital to expand, then that is becoming appealing to me.  Mostly I would like to see a lot of priorities change.

            We have a good deal in the new world USA, and our priorities for spending and taxing  over time ought to reflect this. My sense today is that there is a big disconnect on this subject. Part of it is the obvious disconnect between federal and state priorities, too. To me, we are still a United States, and not a federal one size fits all government.  For example,  I  probably don't think like the people in Montana think I suspect, and I live in Tennessee. That applies to both urban and rural types, too. Simply said, we probably have different priorities.

            Unilateral disarmament will cost us more than we save, in my opinion, and is offered as an example. And I sure wish we would have a "national discussion" about this subject. After all, it is our people and children and taxes and labor to produce the taxes, and even the vast borrowing that also goes on, that should be talked about more than is going on today. And I still believe we the people are still in charge in our new world USA.

            Much change is already happening, like the rise of a third party based on ideas and not some individual.  It will probably become apparent circa 2020. That may bring more focus on nation building at home, too. I sure hope so. We still have plenty of problems here. And what a wonderful place to spend our tax and even borrowed money in nation building. Said another way, let us invest in ourselves.