Mother's Day Thoughts

Today is Mother's Day.  This is not necessarily the standard MD post but it's what's been on my mind lately.  Recently the Obama campaign released a website about a fictional woman named Julia and how her life is impacted by government policy.  There was some pushback about it in the press and from the other side of the aisle. 

It's not a slick website but it made me think a bit about how my life has been influenced by government spending and policy.  So here's a brief narrative of my version.

I'm an Army brat.  My birth was paid for by the military, and by extension the government.  Like most children I had some scrapes and a few surgeries.  While I was a military dependent the government paid for those, too. 

My public school education was sufficient to allow me to test out of some basic college courses, and this was before AP classes and in a school system that did not have an Honors program.

A previous post, My Life as a Public Works Project, outlines the public costs of sending me to college, as tuition was paid through grants, loans, and a work study job.  All told it was less than $10,000 for a B.A. degree.  I pay more than that in taxes every year now.  It was a good investment on the public's part and I am grateful. 

My children attend a good public school.  The local community is willing to pay for education and I think it pays off.

In future years I hope to partake of social security and also hope that my children will have access to good health care.  In the short term I hope they can at least stay on my insurance until they are 26.

It's not quite the same as Julia's story but there are many parallels.