Does America Hate Children?
Why it’s so difficult to raise kids in the USA.
Raising kids in America is hard. I know, because I tried, and I had to leave. Today, my daughter is far better off in France than she ever was in any of the three U.S. states that she lived in before crossing the Atlantic with me.
How hard is it in America? Well, I had a far easier time in France as a partially-employed single father who could not speak the local language than I did in America, where I had a partner, family, and money.
Today, I speak French, I have help, and I have resources, and the comparison is… well, just not comparable.
In France, my child eats nutritious food every day at school, she has an excellent education in a private school for a very low cost, she has access to a plethora of activities and cultural experiences, and the society in general considers her to be a precious resource. Any time my daughter needs to go to the doctor, I never have to worry if I can afford it.
In America, my child was competing for resources in an attempt to thrive. She had no choice but to go to public schools where the food was abhorrent and some of the children unstable. There was a real lack of affordable extra-curriculars, and of course, very shaky healthcare.
In America, I had to pay anywhere between $700 — $1200 per month (depending on the location) for child care, just so that I could go to work. When she was old enough to go to elementary school, I still had to pay several hundred a month to have her covered from the end of the school day until I got off of work, which was usually well after 6pm.
In France, child care is free starting at 3-years-old, and I pay €2.50 per day to keep her at school until 6:30pm, which is more than enough time to leave work around 5:00pm, grab a drink, and then pick her up.
Why the stark contrast? To me it’s obvious — there is a profound difference of priorities. In France, children are important, whereas in America, they are are not.
A great example of this can easily be seen in a recent post on Twitter by Robert Reich, who asked a very simple and important question:
It is a question worth asking — if the U.S. isn’t even paying enough per year to buy an iPhone, how can we expect the future of America to be bright?
The responses to this tweet by many were just appalling, and yet, not surprising at all.
Here of some of the gems:
America can’t spend money on children because it’s too busy protecting the world from itself.
Despite what we Americans were taught as kids, and what has been pounded into our minds via Hollywood, America is not preventing the free world from the big bad boogieman of authoritarianism. Actually, America has done more damage to democracy in the 21st Century than it has done to preserve it, which is why it was just listed as a Backsliding Democracy.
What does that mean?
According to the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), a Backsliding Democracy is a gradual but significant weakening of checks on government and civil liberties, all things that have been deteriorating since at least 2016.
The IDEA report stated that:
“A historic turning point came in 2020–21 when former president Donald Trump questioned the legitimacy of the 2020 election results in the United States.”
And according to the Secretary-General of IDEA:
“The visible deterioration of democracy in the United States, as seen in the increasing tendency to contest credible election results, the efforts to suppress participation (in elections), and the runaway polarisation … is one of the most concerning developments.”
“The violent contestation of the 2020 election without any evidence of fraud has been replicated, in different ways, in places as diverse as Myanmar, Peru and Israel.”
In other words, America is becoming increasingly authoritarian and setting the example for would-be despots around the world — this is bad, but it is also ironic considering that many Americans believe that American children should be deprived because the U.S. is too busy protecting the entire planet from the very thing that it is actually now contributing to.
What makes this argument even more inane is that the European countries are just fine taking care of themselves, and in fact, in the wake of the Trump administration, the European Union has been actively pursuing its own defenses.
Italy, Germany, Spain, the United Kingdom, and France are consistently ranked as being amongst the most powerful militaries in the world, and furthermore, both the U.K. and France have nuclear arsenals. Recently, the EU has been taking active steps toward unifying its forces, to establish a strong global strategic presence that is independent of alliances with the U.S.A.
In her most recent State of the Union address, EU President Ursula von der Leyen called for the formation of a united European military force — this was followed up with support from the Italian President. Not long after, France entered into a deal with Greece for creating a joint-naval force.
In other words, Europe doesn’t trust America anymore, and so they certainly aren’t sleeping well at night because the USA is protecting them, and so the argument that American children can’t be compared to European children because the EU doesn’t have to worry about defense is just silly.
America doesn’t need help from Europe.
I’ve actually heard this a lot: America shook off the oppression of the old world, only to heroically go back nearly two centuries later and save it from a tyrant. People who believe this should be aware of a few points:
First, the United States of America was able to defeat the British Empire (not Europe) because France helped them win, and the Netherlands helped them pay for it. It’s also important to note that the American Revolution was not against the entirety of Europe.
Second, the concept of Democracy was actually born in Europe. Athens was the first known democracy in the world, and many of the principles of modern Democracy are based upon the ideas and teachings of prominent European scholars and philosophers. While Americans love to consider themselves as the greatest Democracy of all time, that title probably is still in Rome. Yes, America has become very powerful and influential, but the Roman Empire remained the dominant force in the world for many centuries; the jury is still out regarding America. It should also be noted that when the USA rebelled against the Republic of Great Britain, not a dictatorship. The first parliament of Great Britain was created in 1707 — by the time 1776 rolled around, the founders of the American revolution were rejecting a limited democracy, not an autocrat. Furthermore, while many Americans like to pride themselves as the crafters of the first real Democratic Constitution, that title actually goes to England itself who created the first Bill of Rights in 1689, while the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth created a full Democratic Constitution right about the same time as the USA.
Third, there are no socialist nations in the European Union. The countries most discussed as “socialist” are Norway, Denmark, Sweden, and Finland — these are, in fact, Capitalist-Mixed economies, however, they all have a strong social welfare system. This is not economic socialism, it is taking care of people who need help so that society doesn’t collapse.
Finally, it’s important to note that the American revolutionary war was not fought against the Scandinavian countries, and furthermore, it was not a war against socialism or liberal progressivism — and for the record, Great Britain played important role in defeating Nazi Germany in WWII.
Children Aren’t a Luxury, They Are The Future
It’s not complicated, if children aren’t nurtured and raised well, they can turn into dysfunctional people, or worse, criminals. On the other hand, if children are taken care of and educated well, then society can progress — this is why every single modern society either has a robust compulsory formal education system, or strives to establish one.
The last tweet where Mr. Justin states “there are more useless (typo correct from unless) children that are not worth supporting,” may seem terrible, but it’s not — it’s absolutely evil. Unfortunately, this gentleman isn’t rare, as many Americans believe that only certain children are worth investing in, while the others should be readily discarded and left to their own fate.
I believe Hitler had a similar viewpoint.
This is one of the major differences today between America, and every country in the EU — no matter where you go, children matter, which is not the case in the USA.
I believe that children are the future
Of course, not all of the tweets were as nasty and negative as the ones above — for each hardcore capitalist child discarder, there was at least one person who stood up for society’s most vulnerable. Unfortunately, the number of tweets echoing the sentiments seen in the tweets above were so plentiful that I couldn’t even try to read them all, and let’s not forget that over 70 million people voted for the political party who pushes this type of thinking.
The sentiment in America of rugged-individualism is noxious for many reasons, but what it has done to how America views children is just disgusting.
It may be hard to hear, but the truth is that America is just no place to raise kids.