John Edwards

I just got the opportunity to hear Senator John Edwards speak and all I can say is wow. I knew I liked that guy, but wow.
You just don't hear politicians talk like that anymore. He came in with ideas on how to fight poverty, and is touring college campuses across the nation hoping to start a grass roots movement. I like what he says he's started at Eastern North Carolina University (?) Basically what he says to the low-income high school kids is that if they are qualified to go to college, and they stay out of trouble, and commit to working at least 10 hours a week on campus or off, they can go to school the first year tuition free and books paid.

The republicans of late have been working hard to destroy our higher education system and it's availability to the middle and lower classes. Thanks to Bush's tax cuts they have recently decreased the amount of financial aid available, and like it or not, that isn't going to affect the lower class, that's going to directly affect the middle class.
Also in Texas we have tuition deregulation now which is causing tuition to sky-rocket. That is thanks to Texas Republicans as well.

I like that John Edwards acknowledges where he comes from. So many people think that if you work hard you will succeed and if you don't you won't. While partly true, that's not really the case. Let's take a look at myself shall we?
I went to public school growing up, my mom surely couldn't afford private school. Then I went to a public university, paid for by student loans, compliments of the government. Without those loans I would definately have not been able to go to college. Same for graduate school. So I lucked out in that I had good, supportive teachers growing up, and that the government was there to help me along the way.

So anyway, lots of kids in this country don't have even these most basic opportunities available to them. While they probably go to school, it's probably not a very good school. Their parents are working more than one job just to survive and can't afford to send them to a better school. They grow up with a sub-par education and don't even consider college to be an option. So this is what John Edwards is hoping to work against.

This has me thinking alot about what I'm doing here. I know I'm not completely happy doing what I'm doing, and this has me considering why. I have always been concerned about other people (hello, that's why I'm a democrat), but right now I'm not doing anything to help anybody. If I end up with my PhD I'll just be doing research on climate change, la di dah. I want to make a difference in someone's life.

So yeah, I've been rambling, so I should get back to work.