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September 18, 2006
There’s nothing
like a political year to bring every possible cure out of the woodwork
for every social and economic ill that befalls American society. If
America has a problem, there is a politician promising us a political
cure to fix it.
Children in
America are going to school without breakfast. So politicians fixed
this problem years ago by funding a national breakfast program, a fix
that only works, as school nurses can tell you, for the parents who
manage to get their children to school early enough to eat before the
bell rings.
Children in
Arizona today are waiting for taxpayers to vote on funding free
pre-kindergarten health screenings for children up to the age of
five. Backers of this ballot initiative “contend that they are only
responding to the reality of inadequate parenting.”
A current
gubernatorial candidate proposes to fix high dropout rates…with a law
extending the dropout age to 18. This supposedly will fix the problem
of aimless young people who lack the education and skills to help them
become productive citizens.
At the other end
of the spectrum, the same candidate has already put into place
full-day kindergartens that keep young children away from home…and
their mothers and fathers. This is supposed to fix the problem of
parents who do not have the time, money or interest in teaching their
children the basics of learning and living that used to be
taught...and learned...at home.
Around the
country, mandatory sentencing laws have been passed to hand out stiff
penalties to criminals, restoring safe streets and neighborhoods. But
this week in Hamilton County Juvenile Court in Ohio, Judge Thomas
Lipps is delaying sentencing of a 15-year-old bank robber. The
“child” was convicted of aggravated robbery with a gun that netted
$5000 used to buy drugs and toys for her and her adult companions.
Deliberating
over “what is best for society and what is best for her,” Judge Lipps
may choose for the “child” either prison time, remanding to the legal
guardian, her grandmother, or assignment to a mental-health program.
Each of these options has been carefully crafted by politicians over
the years as a “fix” for out-of-control teens.
And when these
out-of-control teens graduate to being out-of-control adults, an
entire system of prisons and third-strike-you’re-out no-release jail
sentences attempt to bring a final solution to the whole mess…
…the whole mess,
that is, except for the young children left behind, with fathers and
mothers in prison. Returning full-circle to where we began, these
children will receive the dollars raining down from social programs
intended to fix the fixes that didn’t work for the parents they don’t
have because there’s a hole in the dike.
It might be
hopeless except for the dedication of a class of politicians who
understand that fixing the problems of society must go deeper than
throwing money at the results of the problem. We must look to the
roots of the disease and plant our trees in better soil.
The once common
understanding that secure homes are best built on the healthy, caring
marriages of mothers and fathers rearing children together to become healthy,
productive adults…this understanding is now being reinforced with a
wide body of research that should be a wakeup call to politicians and
voters alike.
We improve the
lives of children when we build a social structure that reinforces
healthy marriages.
We improve the
lives of children when we teach them that the sex that produces babies
belongs inside a healthy marriage where a mother and father are
committed to each other and to their family.
We improve the
lives of children when they understand that long before teen
pregnancy becomes a problem, teen sex is the bigger problem
that threatens their health and well-being…physically, socially,
emotionally, and financially.
In every way
that benefits children, programs and policies that support a
restoration of healthy marriages and sexual abstinence for adolescents
need to become the measure of a good politician with a plan that will
truly make a difference in breaking the cycle of “problems that need
fixing.”
Before you vote,
be sure to ask your politicians…what problems are you fixing…and how?
If they cannot give enthusiastic support to policies aimed at
strengthening marriage and promoting sexual abstinence, this is a sure
sign that your hard-earned taxpayer money will end up hanging on the
dead branches of a tree with rotting roots.
Copyright © 2006 Jane Jimenez
May 14, 2004
Order in the Courtroom!
April 3, 2005
How's It Working for You?
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