Access to quality health care and higher education is a fundamental human right to which all Americans should be entitled regardless of socioeconomic background, race, or gender.  Health and education are the most important drivers of economic opportunity in the United States according to Hope Street Group's Economic Opportunity Index, and yet our current system is set up in a way that essentially only allows those who are already benefiting from economic opportunity to profit from decent health care and education.

In their article, Viewpoint: Parallel crises in health care, higher education, Patrick Callan and Andrew Yarrow argue that this crisis is enormously dangerous to "a prosperous, optimistic American future" - but I would take their argument one step further and add that this crisis is detrimental to the survival of America as we know it, and the signs are beginning to show already.  The United States was a major force behind the creation of the global knowledge economy, and yet, compared to many industrialized countries, it is churning out one of the most ill-prepared workforces entering this economy.  If this continues, our nation will see an increasingly larger portion of future generations working harder and achieving less.  If we reach a point where hard work is no longer rewarded, we will in essence create a system that mimics an old arch-enemy that haunted our very existence during the Cold War.  Ironically, we continue to fight wars to protect our democracy from foreign influences, while our internal politics slowly chips away at the very foundations on which our democracy is based.

Our forefathers built a democracy on the intentional use of the word suffrage, signifying the right rather than the privilege to vote, and to maintain this great democracy our policymakers need to continue to build on our rights by including quality health and education.