A Fleeting Glimpse of Humanity
A Fleeting Glimpse of Humanity
The pandemic showed us politics can work for the people. Let's make that a permanent reality.
Maybe it was the uncertainty, or the panic, or the simple fact that we were forced to think about our own mortality.
Whatever the reason may have been, America was briefly focused on the well being of its citizens.
Not just in platitudes or slogans, in actual political action. It even spanned the spectrum, a rare moment of bipartisan cooperation.
People who were forced out of work due to Covid were given checks large enough to actually pay the bills.
Rent was paused until the situation could be sorted out.
Parents were given money to provide for their families.
The federal school meal assistance program was changed to be free lunches for all kids, and the schools weren’t even open. Parents could still drive to school to get free breakfasts and lunches so their children wouldn’t go hungry.
If it wasn’t for the deadly pandemic spreading across the country, it might have felt like an idealized version of America where no citizens ever had to needlessly suffer.
Sadly, though unsurprisingly, that mentality didn’t last long.
Unemployment benefits and rent forgiveness went away long before life was back to normal.
The child tax credit wasn’t renewed.
The free school meals program hung on the longest, but it too eventually reverted back to the normal cumbersome voucher program that left many kids who were in need, left out and hungry.
We simply couldn’t hold onto the empathy for our neighbors and friends in the face of capitalism and everyday apathy.
As several states set up their own free school lunch programs, the same old tired arguments rose up once again:
“Well don’t have kids if you can’t afford them.”
“We are a capitalist nation, not socialist!”
“Why should my money go to someone else’s kids?”
All of this in response to making sure innocent children don’t go hungry.
A continuous roadblock to proper social reform is the fact that so many people simply do not care.
They don’t care if someone suffers, starves, or ends up homeless. They think “That is their problem not mine”.
Never mind the fact that free school lunches have been shown to increase school performance and test scores.
Amazing how when you aren’t forced to sit in class with your stomach growling while it eats itself, your focus improves.
That argument will never work because it is still “someone else’s kid, someone else’s problem”.
Don’t even waste your time on pointing out that America is in fact NOT a capitalist nation.
We are a mixed market nation that has a history of social programs dating all the way back to the end of the civil war.
That won’t matter when they’ve had “Capitalism great! Socialism evil!” burned into their brains through endless rhetoric by politicians that don’t care if their own voters suffer.
Even simple comparisons won’t work, such as the fact that switching from the voucher system for needy children to free school lunches only cost the federal government an extra $10 billion per year.
$10 billion for a nation that has an $800 billion military budget.
Elon Musk could have kept all children from going hungry for over 4 years instead of buying Twitter.
You’re simply not going to convince that type of American through moral, humanist, or empathetic types of arguments.
That is the disconnect happening in this country.
Those who want to help others believe that deep down everyone wants to do right by their fellow man.
That an impassioned argument showcasing a sweet young child who only eats lunch at school twice a week because her family simply can’t afford it, will open their eyes.
Or thinking that using guilt to shame them over caring about their own wealth more than the needs of their fellow Americans will snap them into agreement.
That only digs them in deeper.
In their mind, they feel attacked for “working hard and earning a living.”
Once they are “attacked”, they will no longer listen.
Their brains block any notion that they might be cold and callus.
The real way to get through to them is explaining how family assistance benefits themselves, even when they have no family of their own.
The “What’s in it for me?” approach is the only way to go. And this requires a data driven approach.
The Data
The argument to be made to that group is that supporting families improves everyone’s economic future, even those who never have kids.
This is because a growing population stimulates an economy by having a continual supply of new demand from the needs of those new people.
Conversely, a shrinking population is bad for the economy and makes life harder on everyone.
This is a major issue that has been facing Japan for a number of years now. They aren’t having enough kids and they have strict immigration policies. Their economy is a mess.
So where does America stand?
You’ve likely seen the different headlines or heard the reports that the general fertility rate hit a record low. And while the pandemic certainly factored into this, it was the 6th consecutive year that the rate had decreased so it isn’t a new trend or an anomaly.
There were 55.8 births per 1000 women of reproductive age in America in 2021. Reproductive age is defined as ages 15-44.
Given that age range, it is worth noting the long term decreasing trend in the number of teen pregnancies which is of course a good thing.
That number is known as the general fertility rate, which is a number that is unlikely to mean much to you as it isn’t how we normally discuss families.
To make it more straightforward, we have the Total Fertility Rate which is simply the average number of children a woman is expected have in her lifetime.
The US currently has a Total Fertility Rate of 1.78
That is below the replacement rate of 2.1
The replacement rate is how many children a generation needs to have in order to fully replace itself.
Why is 2.1 the replacement rate? It takes two people to make a baby, so you need at least 2 people to replace those parents. The reason the replacement rate is 2.1 instead of 2.0 - tragedy happens and some people unfortunately die young.
The American population would already be shrinking if it wasn’t for immigration.
Americans want to have more children. Polling shows that people feel the ideal family size is 2.7 kids.
The number of people who think 3 or more children is the ideal number has been trending upwards since the 90s.
Yet the current average family size is only 1.9
Why? The cost.
It really is that simple, and likely unsurprising to any of you, especially any parents reading this.
In 2013 Gallup asked Americans why they thought people weren’t having more kids.
Money was by far the most cited reason with the economy and state of jobs as the second.
The diapers, formula, cribs, strollers, clothes, food, car seats, bigger cars to hold the family, rent/housing costs to have enough space for a family, the list goes on.
It is extremely expensive to have children in modern times.
And that makes the argument straightforward.
Either support immigration or support American families.
Since the same group tends to be against both, if they want their own future to be better, brighter, and more wealthy, then they need to choose.
Child tax credits
Free school lunches
More affordable healthcare
Free preschool
All of those policies will increase family sizes. Which, in the end, will make everyone’s lives better.
That is how we take the conversation to those who are so worried about the socialist boogieman and who are completely unconcerned with helping young innocent children