I'm not sure who first said that we get the kind of government we deserve. Truer words have never been uttered.

In reading about the cost per pupil to educate pre-kindergarten children, I was blown away. In some area school districts it costs as much as half a year of college in some of the nation's best schools. You have the wolf watching the chicken coop.

Then I read that due to sequestration, some 4,500 civilian workers at Scott Air Force Base face furlows. These were said to be nonessential positions. If they are not essential, why do they exist in the first place?

I know that many of these jobs are held by former service members who are retired, and are paid considerately more than when in uniform. Let's keep them in uniform another 10 years since they are essential. Retire service members with 20 years of service; however, make them ineligible to take a civilian job doing the same job.

Oh! It will be hard to get folks to volunteer. Great, institute two years of required government service for all 18-year-old boys and girls. They will the have enough privates to cut the grass or peel the potatoes at military installations.

William H. Bremen Sr.

Belleville