Why government exists

KENNETT, Mo. -- I have always believed in the ability of my state to tackle any challenge and to meet the future with a determination to overcome and to succeed. I have viewed my fellow residents as being among those rare individuals who would respond to the needs of others and would do so in the biblical spirit of meeting the basic wants of all God's children.

In recent days, however, that faith has been tested as never before, partly because of the actions of some of the state's elected officials and partly because of the seeming sea of indifference that has followed these actions. Most certainly a large amount of this questioning has had its origins in Jefferson City, my state's capital and the foundation of my strong basic beliefs in Missouri and my fellow residents. For in recent days, in the midst of the worst fiscal crisis since the Great Depression, Missouri has become mired in a standoff that is being resolved in ways that are disturbing to my blind belief in the wisdom, concern and priorities of most of my fellow citizens, particularly those we elected to lead us into a new century and who promised progress and better tomorrows for all.

Steps to shortchange this generation and those that follow of the educational advantages they are due, while seen as absolutely essential in Jefferson City, can only be viewed as a calamity in the making, depriving hundreds of thousands and eventually millions of our future generations the quality of education they must have to succeed in an increasingly complex world. At this very moment, when we should be heightening the educational advantages for our children, we are eliminating them in the name of sound fiscal practices.

Indeed, what we are doing as we decrease educational opportunities amounts to balancing our children's future on the compelling need to balance expenditures with expected income. Somewhere along the shoreline of this crisis, we have forgotten the constitutional mandate that says, "All appropriation of money by successive general assemblies shall be made in the following order: First, for payment of sinking funds and interest on outstanding obligations of the sate. Second, for the purpose of public education."

This directive has been a part of Missouri government since the completion of the second state Constitution and, make no mistake, Article II, Section 36 of the Missouri Constitution means exactly what it says. Bonded indebtedness first; education second. There is no mandatory third requirement.

In today's economic climate, shortchanging education funding does not stand alone. Where possible, the state is cutting back -- or from -- programs earlier inaugurated to care for the poor unemployed. This is a case of buying one loaf of bread when two loaves are needed; it is an example of the populist contention that the poor eventually pay the bills for the comfortably affluent. Our state officials earlier decided that at least one program designed to help individuals, particularly widows, without a single source of income would receive a subsistence check of less than $100 a month. The amount, it might be added, was designed to keep these unfortunates from starvation, not to provide them with full stomachs from one month to the next. Checks will now be $9.

The balanced-budget imperative has also been applied to the mentally ill, who over future months may make the entire state regret cutbacks that will affect the well-being of families with at least one member who needs but has been denied professional psychiatric care. The state's once-lauded advocacy services have been reduced to near-zero funds for the next month, a fact Missourians may want to bear in mind the next time they are confronted by a psychotic patient who will soon be free to roam the streets.

These and a multiple of other budget cuts are all but written in concrete in the state Capitol, with proponents arguing that making these reductions is "the only way" they can comply with the mandate of Article III, Section 36. With these words they will wash their hands of the severe budget reductions that will trigger a wide range of government neglect, program failures and canceled benefits. The cry that "We had no choice" will be the only excuse heard from Jefferson City, even as a wide number of alternatives are rejected for political, economic or ideological reasons.

The irony of all this is that Missouri's economic malaise can be laid at the doorstep of new federal tax cuts that have become the way federal politicians retain their favor with the electorate. These cuts will impinge greatly on the ability of Missouri to maintain its present tax revenue collections and keep existing programs in place.

For the first time in memory, my beloved state will join forces with the nation's corporate and affluent classes to balance the books on the backs of the poor, the unemployed, the mentally ill, and the children of tomorrow. I mourn my loss of pride.

Jack Stapleton is the editor of Missouri News & Editorial Service.