"Ohio Senate candidate J. D. Vance... held that the “childless left,” exemplified, in his view, by politicians like Pete Buttigieg, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Cory Booker, and Kamala Harris, is turning the country into a rump state of imperious cat ladies. “Let’s give votes to all children in this country,” Vance argued, by way of remedy, “but let’s give control over those votes to the parents of the children … We should worry that in America, family formation, our birth rates, a ton of indicators of family health have collapsed.”Vance’s proposal was a hit on Fox and Friends, and The Federalist’s publisher, Ben Domenech, picked up the line of thinking in another segment that aired on the network earlier this week, arguing, inter alia, that “woke, socialist progressives” hate babies “more than anything else,” and that the left detests the fact that there are children, period. All the usual suspects—radical environmentalists agitating for depopulation, career-oriented girl bosses, critical race theorists—made their usual appearances, each offered as evidence of a leftward political bent that’s thoroughly anti-child."
Commentary continues at The Atlantic.
Sounds like Vance is getting influenced by the Taliban, taking away women's rights, mainlining the male dominant family idea ... will he also adopt the Taliban's attitude towards the LGBT community ? Which is to just kill them.
ReplyDeleteI reckon you need someone with common sense to be your king, all this letting easily influenced (read stupid) people vote for who runs your country does not seem to be working very well, as exampled by your No.45 ... that had 194 countries laughing at you and 2 wanting to emulate you.
I love some aspects of the U.S.A. but your ability to elect what I consider to be morons, leaves me cold.
Sorry.
I think it could be interesting to give the votes of the children to their parents. This could improve the school system, for example, which today revolves around the demands of teachers, which is a huge and very well represented electoral group. Another advantage is that it would allow the poor and immigrants to have more electoral weight, because they have more children (at least in Europe). This system existed in Belgium for several decades (in the 19th century), and at the time the universities of this small country (especially those of engineering) attracted students from all over the world.
ReplyDeleteIf school teachers had the power you imagine, they'd make a lot more money, and schools would be better funded. Teachers wouldn't have to buy their own classroom supplies, either.
DeleteThank you for this. It is helpful to be reminded that we are living in a feedback loop that distorts reality ever more wildly for the sake of an emotional reaction.
ReplyDeleteHe's half right. Let's let high school age kids vote. Many are more politically engaged than most adults, and they have more to lose (in terms of lifespan) than any of us. Maybe we'd fix more things if we had a longer time horizon in mind.
ReplyDeleteHi there. Moderate centrist here (which I realize to the right-wingers is 'godless commie hippie heathen'), and my wife and I don't have kids. Why? Simple. Kids are expensive. I wish I could be more delicate than that, but there it is. But before the right-wingers start going off on the left for being 'anti-child', let me remind you that the main reason kids are expensive is the ludicrous cost of health-care in this country. We simply can't afford to have a kid, let alone pay the medical costs of that kid for the next 20 years. And which side is it that's so firmly against universal, socialized health care? It ain't the left, pardner...
ReplyDeletemy wife and I don't have kids. Why?
DeleteStop right there. You do not have to justify an action you didn't take.
And furthermore, it's none of anyone's business why you didn't do something. People should be held accountable for their actions, rather than their inactions.
Give children the vote controlled by parents. Hmm, might be a good idea. As I understand it the people with larger families, have more children, would have more votes, are hispanics. I think blacks would be second. Whites may give Asians a run for third but I wouldn't put money on it.
ReplyDeleteI couldn't agree more. While I am to the left of Noam Chomsky on many issues, I hate nothing more that hearing the recitation of the liberal catechism that happens at every farmer's market and pottery class. Yes, the algorithm feeds me the same stories about misogynist Olympic dress codes and racist parking lot tirades, but do we really need to continue discussing it while life is happening elsewhere? Isn't the mindless rehash of talking points what we dislike about the other side?
ReplyDeletePete Buttigieg and his husband announced today that they are adopting a child. Take him off the childless left list, I guess. Along with, well, just about everyone. Vance will say anything to raise his credibility with the Trump crowd.
ReplyDeleteMore of the right subtly attempting to normalize the idea of disenfranchising certain kinds of people. The more people debate the fundamental aspects of democracy, the more it seems like they’re up for debate…
ReplyDelete