Help the governor, don’t bash him | Community Perspectives – Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

I attended a part of Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s budget event on March 28 in Fairbanks. I noticed several protesters outside. Many seemed upset about the school or Medicaid cuts. Here’s my take on this.

Our state is broke. We can’t squeeze blood out of a turnip. I’m not sure how the protesters are expecting this to be resolved. Taxes? Really? Or lower PFDs? Let’s really think about that for a minute. We are all struggling enough with the high cost of living and buying heating oil, so is it really wise to add more expenses to our lives?

I have a different suggestion. How about we act like Alaskans and become more independent of government? Since when were Alaskans so needy and helpless? Gov. Dunleavy is simply revealing that we only have a few choice: taxes, lowering the dividend or making cuts. It’s like people are expecting him to wave some magic wand and make the sky rain money.

So my perspective is on how can we help our state and one another.

Let’s look at schools for example. An elementary school has several classrooms, and they’re all filled with bright fluorescent lights. If we think outside the box with an independent mind, to save costs on food, one classroom could be transferred into a nursery with hydro planting, and that one room could not only supply that school with mounds of fresh vegetables but also could teach the kids how to grow their own at home.

Let’s talk about heating costs for the schools. Why not use the Earth’s natural thermal heating or set up solar panels to collect energy? And, what about the parents of these kids? Can they come in a couple of hours weekly or monthly to help with filing or copying or grading papers? There are villages where schools raise their own chickens for eggs. Why can’t they all do that? If schools found creative ways to be more self-sustaining and more parents got involved, then there would be extra money left over for other necessities.

Now about Medicaid. The key to medical costs is this: promote good health to begin with. Some people need lots of medical help, but many people make themselves sicker and cost more because of really bad choices. Staying healthy is the best way to help with Medicaid costs. Ways to be healthy are to stop smoking, avoid sugars and processed foods or bleached flour, go walking outside in the sunshine. And a big one is to encourage more breastfeeding. I’ll even take that one step further as to say that businesses should be allowing women to bring their nursing babies to work. If people were overall healthier, then that extra money could be used to help those who are genuinely sick through no fault of their own. And Medicaid would save hundreds of thousands if it covered natural medicine since naturopathy works with the body to promote healing.

Instead of taxing and begging, let’s be strong together and think of solutions outside of government help. Remember the saying, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country.” Let’s share ideas and stop blaming Dunleavy for everything.

Pamela Samash lives in Nenana.