Leaving Our Children Behind
Heather Wokusch
While the Bush administration has promised to "leave
no child behind," reality on the ground looks a little
different.
The facts are staggering. Over 11 million American
children live in poverty, 9.2 million have no health
insurance, and 3.6 million suffer "worst-case"
housing needs. While the US is the world leader in defense
expenditures, it ranks only 17th in efforts to lift
children out of poverty; while it is number one in
health technology, it ranks 23rd in infant
mortality.
But promises made to children back in the heady
presidential campaign days seem long forgotten now.
Among other photo-op commitments, the $1 billion
Bush guaranteed for abused and neglected kids never
materialized (although the administration somehow
came up with billions for weaponry and corporate
handouts). In his inaugural address, Bush stated that "deep,
persistent poverty is unworthy of our nation's
promise," then pushed through a tax cut benefiting
the wealthiest one percent of the population. He
proposed doubling the child tax credit - but only for upper
and middle class families.
And then there's the Bush welfare reform act,
recently pushed through Congress. Hailed by the
administration as helping millions of Americans "realize a life of
hope, dignity and independence," the bill imposes a
40-hour work week requirement for welfare
recipients, yet slashes low-income childcare programs. Do the
math on that - who takes care of the kids when single mom
is working?
The welfare reform bill additionally throws hundreds
of millions of dollars into marriage-promotion schemes,
yet puts roadblocks in the way of young mothers
hoping to receive education and job skills training.
Mechanisms for accountability have been conveniently
left out of the bill, and programs/services to
directly help poor families eliminated. The administration is
now pressuring the Senate to pass the legislation it
calls "compassionate."
Brings back memories of campaign era Bush insisting
that "the biggest percentage of our budget should go
to children's education," then submitting a 2002 budget
bulging with corporate perks, defense contractor
pork, and 40 times more money for tax cuts than for
education.
It says something about a nation's short-sighted
priorities when it spends three times more on each
incarcerated citizen than on each public school
pupil. When just one month of its military spending would
be enough to eradicate poverty for all of its children
for a full year.
Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson
was recently asked why no additional funds could be made
available for low-income child care, and he gave a
simple response: "the war." In defending the largest
defense spending increase in two decades, Bush said,
"We're interested in defending the freedom, no matter
what the cost."
What freedom? What about the freedom to be a kid? To
live without poverty? National security necessitates
more than military weaponry - it demands a nation's
children have the right to grow up with a roof over
their heads, a little food in their stomachs, and
adequate health care. With corporate taxes slated to
drop to historic lows, you would think similar
governmental generosity could be doled out to our
kids most at risk.
It's a cold fact that in today's society, morals are
defined less by pious posing and eloquent words than
by following the money trail. And in Bush's America,
impoverished kids have been left to fend for
themselves.
Heather Wokusch is a free-lance writer. She can be
contacted via her web site at www.heatherwokusch.com