Of all the bad economic policies I’ve seen in government — and boy, let me tell you, I’ve seen a lot — the decision to “forgive” student debt is, by far, the worst by degrees of comparison.

It is intellectually dishonest, it is morally indefensible, and it screams louder than any other thing the Biden administration has done, that vote-getting, obfuscation, and the complete re-arrangement of our basic social structures matter more to him than do fairness, ethics, and upholding the tenets of the American Dream, which I might add, used to be the primary element that distinguished our great nation from every other country in the world. 

Sadly, we are more and more like Europe every day. 

In a previous article published in CJ, you may recall that I wrote about how Tammie (my wife) and I paid off our joint $119,000 debt by ourselves. No one helped us, nor should they have. And for 18 years, we saved in 529 accounts for our children. My daughter’s college tuition at NC State, which I paid last week, is $8,800 per semester. We have it because we saved it in $100-$200 increments a month for nearly two decades, sacrificing nights out and vacations so we could give our kids the option of higher education without debt or relying on the government for their success.

If I sound a little disgusted by President Joe Biden’s decision, I am. And you should be, too, because any reasonable person (I know, an endangered species these days) knows where this slippery slope leads; more borrowing, more debt, and more government “forgiveness,” which fundamentally undermines the credit/debit model of how finances work. 

Since I left public life, I have resisted saying too much about Biden, Trump, and politics in general. At this point in my life, I am content to focus on my legal work, play golf now and then, and spend extra time writing columns like this or hanging out with Tammie and my children when they will let me. Put bluntly; my re-arranged priorities have been sublime, frankly.

But the velocity of our country’s turn-around – worse in every measurable way in just 20 months – alarms me more every day. It is nearly unbearable to watch my clients struggle to buy gas and food, watch our country’s military focus more on wokeness than defeating our enemies, and witness our classrooms become incubators for sexual and race-theory indoctrination.

Two summers ago, we watched our cities nearly burn down as anarchists, aided by corporate media, succeeded, in many ways, in imposing their radical agenda on the nation. They extended their “protests” to the voting booths and helped elect unhinged, crazy radicals to lead us. Since then, the pace of our decline has accelerated like an unimpeded boulder rolling down a steep hill. 

Like many of you, I am becoming more intentional in seeking innovative but lawful ways of fighting back. Like Trump does and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Like U.S. Sens. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, and Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, and a few others. But it cannot be just politicians (or former politicians, in my case) fighting. More regular people who traditionally have been apathetic to the political grind machine need to stand up and do something. 

This week’s student loan “forgiveness” announcement took the cake. Enough is enough. I pray the midterms will save us until we turn this country around in 2024. God help us all, if not.

Woody White is a resident of New Hanover County. Married to Tammie White and father of two adult children, Woody practices law as a courtroom attorney.  He just completed two terms as a New Hanover County Commissioner and formerly served an unexpired term in the NC State Senate. You may email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter @Woodywhite5.