Letters submitted by BDN readers are verified by BDN Opinion Page staff. Send your letters to [email protected]
Shame on U.S. Rep. Jared Golden for using name-calling and stereotyping from the Republican toolbox to defend his vote against President Joe Biden’s student loan forgiveness plan. Golden particularly attacked “radical leftist elitists” who criticized his vote, defining this group as “ideologically rigid and close-minded” and as exhibiting “condescension toward anyone who holds differing viewpoints.” But I think it clearly is Golden who has proven more close-minded in ongoing debates about the student loan issue.
He has continued, for example, to imply that student debt holders do not need loan forgiveness because many go on to earn “six-figure salaries,” while seemingly ignoring statistics presented by others, such as BDN politics editor Michael Shepherd, showing that the average student debt holder in Maine makes only $58,000 and owes approximately $33,000 in student debts (stories by Billy Kobin in the BDN on Aug. 30; Michael Shepherd on Aug. 21).
Golden asserts that the government cannot afford more debt and the inflation it encourages, and urges those needing free college to follow his example and earn it through military service.
Yet this is clearly disingenuous since military spending is one of the key factors driving the U.S. national debt and inflation. By contrast, many European countries spend far more money on higher education, making it significantly more affordable to those with low incomes, and far less on the military. I think it is clearly Golden rather than his opponents who needs to develop a broader and more flexible understanding of the ongoing student debt crisis and its impact on low- and middle-income Americans.
Elizabeth McKillen
Orono
