Burlington High School
Burlington, Kansas
Teacher: Devra Parker
The Debts of Our Fathers
By Ryan Gilbert
12th Grade
As a young man growing up, my life was atrocious. I have suffered many years from some of the bad choices that my father had made. They have ruined my life. They are, in a sense, the debts that I have to pay because of the choices that are beyond my control. My father drank a great deal of alcohol, and beat my siblings and me. I was taken from the home and put in a foster home separate from that of my brother and sister. Finally, after two years in the system, we were finally united with each other in an adoptive family. I am still trying to replace the overdue care and attention that my father stole from my family. I think that every several years the debt should be wiped clean, and each man should get to start fresh as his own man. No one should have to pay for the mistakes of others.
In the letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote he stated that every 55 years the debts of each man should be disengaged. I think that this is a marvelous idea. It would help society to finally come out of the 8 trillion dollar debt that we are in. If you only had to pay for the debt that you have made in your lifetime and your children were not punished for the mistakes that you may have made, I think that that would make every parent, and child for that matter, very blissful. As of now were all had to pay off the debt of our father and even their fathers. The debt that the nation as a whole has compiled is, for the lack of another word, astonishing. If the nations that we have borrowed our money were to call on the money that is rightfully theirs, our nation would plummet to become the poorest nation in the world. The men and women that would have to suffer through this crisis would be us. Though all of us have contributed in some way or anther to the national debt, none of us have ever borrowed the 8.5 trillion dollars that we owe. I think the worst problem would be trying to work off my fathers debts while paying off mine. I think that would be nearly impossible and would most likely be passed on to my children to work off the debts of two generations and so on.
How many young adults have experienced the loss of a loved one, just to find out that after the funeral we are left with the unpaid loans of our most cherished relatives? For the most part we have never contributed to the spendings of any of our relatives. In which case, why should we have to suffer because of them? I believe, just as I think Mr. Jefferson thought, with each passing generation the debts should be pardoned and each generation should have the ability to start on a stable foundation rather that the hole that our fathers have already dug for us. This would also make the strive for the most money become less prominent. I think that with all people on an even playing field the need to make so much money would abolish itself. People would not have to work to make pay the overdue amounts borrowed by our ancestors, we would be able to work for the money that we would like to spend on our necessities and our enjoyment. Without having to make so much money, the price of the goods that are manufactured in the United States would decrease, means that once again we would have even more money to spend on our gratification.
Of course pardoning all former debts raises one problem. If we were to forgive each man of their debts when they died the men and women that loaned out the money out of the kindness of their hearts would then lose what is rightfully theirs. This would then cause them to go into debt. I am not sure how the money would encounter the hands of the men and women that it truly belongs to.
I think that all in all the idea is correct, why should any man be punished for the mistakes of his father or grandfather. I just don’t know how the debt could rightfully be abolished with each generation. I have suffered many years from the debts that my father has bestowed on me. I couldn’t image what it would be like to inherit the debts that he has created through his life because of bad habits and decisions. It could be something that can and would haunt me for the rest of my life.
Answers To Questions Prompted By The Required Reading
Q1- What was the average life span in Jefferson’s age according to his letter?
55
Q2- Do some research and find out the size of the national debt you are about to inherit as taxpayers. Don’t forget the benefits promised in your name to the older generations under the guise of Social Security and Medicare.
– $ 8,550,311,946,816
Q3-What do you think of Jefferson’s assertion that “…no generation can contract debts greater than may be paid during the course of it's own existence.”
People should not be allowed to create more debt the next generation will be able to pay off.
Is
it
feasible
to
undue
the
social
contracts
in
your
children
or
grandchildren’s
life
times?
Would
you
want
to
even
if
you
could?
Why
or
why
not.
Q4- Do you agree, as Jefferson maintained, that “[debt] between society and society, or generation and generation, there is no municipal obligation, no umpire but the law of nature. We seem not to have perceived that, by the law of nature, one generation is to another as one independent nation to another.”
I
agree
that
we
should
not
be
able
to
create
more
debt
that
we
or
the
generations
to
come
will
be
able
to
pay
off.
Q5-
In
view
of
Jefferson’s
words
that
follow,
why
do
you
think
a
sunset
provision
on
generational
debt
wasn’t
included
in
the
U.S.
Constitution?
“But with respect to future debts, would it not be wise and just for that nation to declare, in the constitution they are forming, that neither the legislature, nor the nation itself, can validly contract more debt than they may pay within their own age, or within the term of 19. years? And that all future contracts will be deemed void as to what shall remain unpaid at the end of 19. years from their date? This would put the lenders, and the borrowers also, on their guard.”
When the constitution was written the U.S. was in very little debt. The debt could be paid back and they had no idea that it was going to increase this much.
Q6- What do you say to Jefferson’s assertion that “a law of limited duration is much more manageable than one which needs a repeal.” ?
I think that as time changes so should the rules that govern those times.
Q7- “We have already given in example one effectual check to the Dog of war by transferring the power of letting him loose from the Executive to the Legislative body, from those who are to spend to those who are to pay.”
Q8- In light of the excerpt from his letter above, what do you think Thomas Jefferson would make of our nation’s recent history of fighting undeclared wars?
I don’t think that Thomas Jefferson would approve of the wars that we have fought.
Q9- Name ten of the twenty-six states that have enacted sunset legislation.
Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, and Texas.
Q10- What state abolished all state government? What do you think the voters got for their trouble?
West Virgina was the state that abolished their state government, but the governor vetoed the bill. The voters got the recognition that they wanted.
Q11- What good do attempts at enacting Sunset legislation achieve even when the laws are not enacted?
It scares them and makes the offices want to produce the results so they can keep their office running.