For a country brimming with “pro-family” politicians, the United States sure is a tough place to raise a family.
We Americans like to think “We’re No. 1,” but one recent study found that the United States was the second worst out of 35 industrialized countries as a place for families. We ranked behind Bulgaria. Behind Chile.
Now we have a historic chance to support children and families, for President Joe Biden’s American Families Plan proposes programs such as high-quality day care and pre-K that are routine elsewhere in the world. You might think that the “pro-family” Republican Party would be eager to translate platitudes into practical help. But you’d be wrong.
“You know who else liked universal day care?” tweeted Sen. Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn. She cited the old Soviet Union, apparently suggesting that there is something communist about day care, and falsely claimed that participation would be mandatory under the Biden plan.
J.D. Vance, author of “Hillbilly Elegy,” warned, “‘Universal day care’ is class war against normal people.” Sen. Tim Scott, R-S.C., denounced efforts “to put Washington even more in the middle of your life, from the cradle to college.” Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., railed at “lefty social engineering.”