[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 3]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 3920]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                          HONORING MILAN DOSHI

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. PETE OLSON

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 21, 2012

  Mr. OLSON. Mr. Speaker, I am privileged to interact with some of the 
brightest students in the 22nd Congressional District who serve on my 
Congressional Youth Advisory Council. I have gained much by listening 
to the high school students who are the future of this great nation. 
They provide important insight into the concerns of our younger 
constituents and hopefully get a better sense of the importance of 
being an active participant in the political process. Many of the 
students have written short essays on a variety of topics and I am 
pleased to share these with my House colleagues.
  Milan Doshi is a junior at Elkins High School in Fort Bend County, 
Texas. His essay topic is: In your opinion, what role should government 
play in our lives?

       Abraham Lincoln once said that this is a ``government of 
     the people, by the people, for the people.'' Government is an 
     entity that plays just as much a role in our lives as we 
     allow it to play. As the current election is just around the 
     corner, many of the issues that have prevailed in the 
     presidential debates include what role the government should 
     play in our economy, foreign policy, and our daily lives.
       Many Americans believe that if the United States had 
     learned from the past, they would have realized that the 
     greater the country got involved in the economy, with 
     countries around the world, and in our daily lives, the 
     greater the magnitude of the problems in the status quo would 
     become. Many Americans believe that our government has not 
     learned from the past and continues to make the same mistakes 
     that once made its population distraught. Even though our 
     country's interaction with foreign policy and the economy may 
     not directly impact us, the interaction somehow influences a 
     majority of America's population in their daily lives. This 
     impact on the status quo and on the population's mindset is 
     indicative through stories in the news, through personal 
     experiences, and through observations of our surroundings.
       Overall, our government should understand that the role 
     that they play in our lives should be in balance. Foreign 
     policy has made our country one of the most powerful 
     countries around the world. We have a prestigious navy, a 
     strong air force, and, most importantly, the most dominating 
     army that money can buy; however, in this case, America's 
     dedication towards the development of its army has 
     preoccupied them to a point where it has reallocated funds 
     from other areas that desperately need them. This 
     reallocation would allow the government to play a more 
     conservative role in our lives. If the funds that were 
     dedicated towards foreign policy were reevaluated, I'm sure 
     there are places where cuts can be made and the money saved 
     be reallocated to other sectors. This begs the question of 
     which sector requires the money the most, based on its 
     influence on our daily lives. The education sector consists 
     of the building blocks of this country and preoccupies most 
     teenagers' daily lives. If more money was invested in this 
     sector, we would be able to hire more experienced teachers, 
     give teachers more freedom to construct their courses, create 
     more effective ways of assessment, as well as pay our 
     teachers more. What this would inevitably lead to is lesser 
     involvement in education, for kids my age, most of our daily 
     lives, and more freedom for teachers to foster growth and 
     meet the needs of individual students, as well as give 
     students the freedom to express themselves without being 
     restricted to the methods of the government. This is 
     important in demonstrating the balance that is necessary of 
     government in our daily lives. If the government allowed 
     students to embrace education, the United States would be 
     able to be competitive with the education systems of other 
     countries around the world. With smarter future generations, 
     America would not make the same mistakes it made in the past 
     that led to economic collapses such as the one that occurred 
     during the Great Depression. Individuals in the American 
     government would finally realize that they ought to play a 
     smaller role in the economy by allowing it to be the one that 
     causes its own downfall and also its own rebuilding. Over the 
     past few years, it has become evident that the greater the 
     role that government plays in the economy, the further it 
     goes into shambles and the more jobs that are lost. This is 
     important because even though I have been fortunate enough to 
     have a family that has not had to go through the stresses of 
     job loss, the effects of thousands of jobs going away are 
     being felt by families all across the United States, 
     affecting their daily lives, in how they live and how they 
     interact with the people around them. If the government did 
     not play as large a role as it is playing right now, we would 
     probably see the economy collapse and then gradually begin to 
     rebuild itself, creating more jobs, steadying the economy, 
     and more importantly, bringing stability to families across 
     the country.
       Thus, the role that government ought to play in our lives 
     should be one in balance and it ought to be the government's 
     responsibility to make sure their actions are properly 
     affecting their population. However, in situations where the 
     government loses sight of the problems that lay ahead due to 
     their actions, it becomes the peoples' responsibility to 
     speak and make sure their voice is heard. Because, after all, 
     as Abraham Lincoln once said, this is a ``government of the 
     people, by the people, for the people.''

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