Still Harping on the Working Mom thing...

I often wonder about our national, state and local policies surrounding children and families. I understand that the economy is important. The bottom line is important. Making money and controlling costs is important. I get all of that. But I don't think that taking care of families and children has to be exclusive of sound financial decisions. For one thing, let's think about what is good for the future of our country and our world.

 

1. A healthy population.

2. An educated population.

 

In my mind, those are the 2 really important things to think about. One might argue that national defense is up there, but I tend to disagree. There are a few countries out there that are fairly prosperous w/o huge defense budgets. Also, in an environment such as the one we find ourselves in today, a huge standing army with lots of tanks and planes is not necessarily going to protect us from the hijackers that crash planes into buildings. As it stands, Defense is a full 20% of our national budget. Medicare is 21%. Social security is 20%. 

 

 

 

Blah blah blah, bottom line is, does it bother anyone else that less is spent on education than is spent on benefits to current and former federal employees? It bothers me. A lot. Because every school district I know of is wrestling with how to do more on a smaller budget.

 

I'm not so naive as to think that we as a nation can magically come up with an answer where we all pay fewer taxes and get more from our government. Clearly, reform needs to be made. But why aren't we cutting the heavy hitters: defense, social security, medicare just as much as we are the things that will help our country maintain its standing in the world? I work at a place in which budgets for medicare can mean the difference between laying off employees or growing the organization, but I feel that the status quo is not working. After all of that spending, America is not healthier today than we were 20 years ago. So we need to focus our spending on ways to improve health - parks and recreation areas inside urban development sites, regulation on pollutants, infrastructure - with more mass transit opportunities, there is less of a need to rely on cars, etc.

 

And, last but not least, let's focus on families. Let's support families when they are making choices about their children and their lives. Let's not ding moms who choose to stay at home with their kids, and let's REALLY not ding moms who take an hour off here and there to spend time with their kids. Jobs are important - they give us the funds we need to live in today's society - but they aren't our kids. So in conclusion, go families!

This makes me wonder why we don't get paid maternity in America