For the Children - American Reformer

A Review of Pro-Child Politics: Why Every Cultural, Economic, and National Issue is a Matter of Justice for Children, Edited by Katy Faust

When Jesse Hunter entered the Minnesota voting precinct in 2006, he, like most voters that day, was compelled by civic duty and the issues he cared about most. Unlike his fellow citizens, however, Jesse was still a minor.

“They [polling officials] examined my driver’s license and asked for my Social Security number,” Jesse told the National Youth Rights Association, “but they never seemed to notice that I wrote ‘1989’ as the year of my birth. I voted, and walked out euphoric, bearing an ‘I Voted’ sticker upon my forehead.” Jesse is not alone.

With national debt ballooning, homeownership increasingly out of reach, an “America Second” foreign policy, and attacks on the family and faith, it is no surprise that many young people feel unrepresented by their political leaders. Indeed, Katy Faust’s most recent book, Pro-Child Politics: Why Every Cultural, Economic, and National Issue is a Matter of Justice for Children, is the first step toward a serious consideration of what it looks like to “challenge the selfish quo by centering children in all cultural and political conversations.”

The president of Them Before Us—a conservative child’s rights organization—and author of Them Before Us and Raising Conservative Kids in a Woke City, Faust’s Pro-Child Politics addresses 19 of the most pressing political issues of our day. While Faust herself writes the chapter on the family, she invites subject area experts to write each additional chapter.

Broken into three sections, Pro-Child Politics covers Cultural Issues (Life, Masculinity, Femininity, Family, Race, Gender Ideology, Pornography), Economic Issues (Economy, Taxes, Debt, Energy, ESG and DEI), and National Issues (Religious Liberty, Education, Digital Technology, the Environment, Foreign Policy, Policing, and Border Security and Immigration). This list may feel overwhelming at first glance, but each chapter provides an engaging and easily digestible primer on the given topic.

Each chapter opens with a compelling story about a child, or children, who were harmed because of bad cultural practices or policies. From there, chapters are broken into five sections: “Big Lies” about a given issue, “How These Lies Harm Children,” “The Truth About” a given issue, “How These Truths Protect Children,” and “Child Protection in Action.” I found myself nodding emphatically as I read “Family,” “Femininity,” “Digital Technology,” and “Border Security and Immigration”—issues that overlap most closely with my own work—and taking copious notes on other chapters.

Many Christians, for example, have the right sentiment when it comes to their political views, but often lack the necessary data or knowledge to rightly understand a given issue. Indeed, no Christian should succumb to the ploys of “toxic empathy” or identity politics. As Pro-Child Politics illustrates, misguided compassion can be just as dangerous as outright hostility when it comes to the well-being of children, and the nation.

In the introduction, Faust makes the case for why the well-being of children must come first in politics. Much like the biblical example of Hezekiah, whose own children appear to pay the price for his prideful prayer, Faust argues that,

When we prioritize adult desires and agendas, we force children to shoulder a load that we adults are unwilling to bear. When adults refuse to do hard things, we transfer the responsibility to our children and grandchildren, allowing their problems to multiply exponentially. Preference for our immediate comfort has made it much harder for the next generation to deal with debt, national security, open borders, economics untethered to fiscal reality, distorted human identity, and invasive technologies. By shirking the responsibility of addressing problems when they were smaller, we adults become the perpetrators of grave intergenerational injustices.

Indeed, Faust goes on to discuss how we are far from the platonic ideal of justice—“giving others what they are due”—when it comes to our treatment of children. Far too often, adults go so far as to take from children: their innocence, financial security, a close relationship with their married father and mother, equal opportunity, and even the chance to be born.

Pro-Child Politics in Action: the Environment, Digital Technology, and Debt

In his chapter on the environment, for example, Chris Barnard, president of the American Conservation Coalition, discusses the anti-human climate agenda that “finds its roots more in ideology and emotion than in science and reason.” One way, he argues, that the modern environmentalism movement harms young children is by its non-intervention approach to wildlife management that has resulted in higher numbers of wildfires and smoke poisoning.

As Barnard notes, “one study finds that as many as 7.4 million children in the U.S. are affected by wildfire smoke annually; it accounts for 20 percent of particulate matter pollution they are exposed to.” The resulting low air quality, asthma, lost homes and days at school, and other respiratory diseases are preventable harms that disproportionately affect children. And the problem is only getting worse, as “wildfire occurrences have increased 223 percent since 1983.”

It should come as little surprise that the modern environmental movement, which places the so-called well-being of the planet before that of children, also corresponds with population control measures such as widespread abortion and the promotion of a child-free lifestyle. Consistently, “climate change” is cited as a top five reason why people are delaying or forgoing children altogether. When we believe lies about good environmental care, current and potential children are the ones who suffer most.

Maria Baer’s chapter on digital technology should be on the list of required reading for every parent and educator in America. Baer, reporter and co-host of Breakpoint This Week with The Colson Center for Christian Worldview, argues that,

Most parents know the risks of dangerous digital content. There’s bullying on social media. There’s exploitative data mining, hacking, digital surveillance, the dark web, deep fakes, and artificial intelligence-powered ‘companions.’ These threats aren’t insubstantial, but they’re not the only dangers digital tech poses for kids.

Indeed, the addictive design and structure of digital devices and programs themselves pose grave risks to the mental, emotional, and developmental well-being of children. Instead of asking “if” these mediums are good for children, most parents and educators simply jump to “how” they should be employed.

Indeed, in recent weeks, a young teen tragically committed suicide after falling in love with an artificial chat-bot. His is one of many heartbreaking examples of “derealization,” where one loses the ability to distinguish between the digital world and reality. With children as young as 8-years-old spending as much as six hours per day in front of a screen, such deadly developmental crises will only increase.

Likewise, take the issue of the national debt (not to mention the crisis of personal debt that most Americans are expected to take on throughout their lives). Phil Kerpen, president of American Commitment and the Committee to Unleash Prosperity, highlights the national debt crisis in the United States, saying,

The U.S. national debt currently sits at an obscene $35 trillion, with over $27 trillion of that “debt held by the public,” which is the debt excluding what the government owes to itself to cover Social Security and other trust-fund obligations [my own emphasis added].

To put this in perspective, my daughters (born early 2023 and late 2024) “share of federal debt will be over $140,000 when [they reach] the age [of] eighteen and $226,000 at age thirty.” Kerpen goes on to say that “these debts must be paid—either through steeply higher taxes, chronic inflation, or perpetual refinancing.” Before my daughters can vote for themselves, the national debt will play a crucial role in their ability to pursue financial freedom and prosperity, pay for college, purchase a home, and should they marry, have the flexibility to stay home with their children. Considering debt from the perspective of child well-being, the issue quickly shifts from a hypothetical numbers game to a crucial issue that must be addressed—if it is not already too late.

For the Children or By the Children?

Of course, embracing child-first policies does not equal a child-dictated political regime. I imagine that at this point Greta Thunberg, the 21-year-old climate activist, has come to mind. After learning about so-called climate change, Thunberg hosted her first public strike when she was 15. Since then, her most famous speeches show her wagging her finger at political leaders around the world. In 2019, for example, she attended a UN climate action summit in New York. “I should be back in school on the other side of the ocean,” she told delegates. “Yet you all come to us young people for hope. How dare you! You have stolen my dreams and my childhood with your empty words.” Her speeches are emotionally compelling, especially given Thunberg’s child-like appearance and ideological purism, and have resulted in her nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize each year from 2019-2023.

What, you may be asking, is the difference between Thunberg’s “do it for the children” climate action plea and Katy Faust’s pro-child politics? The contrast is clear: like God the Good Father who provides and disciplines with love, the best parents give good gifts and instruct their children in wisdom. Such stewardship requires parents to be attuned to the needs of their child without being led by their child.

By contrast, a child-led politics looks a lot like Dudley from the Harry Potter series. His character embodies a child spoiled by parents who yield to his every whim, failing to teach self-discipline or concern for others. This indulgence produces an equally short-sighted child who is ill-prepared for self-governance. At its core, Pro-Child Politics is a call for adults to represent and steward the best interests of children in the realm of politics, culture, and economics—not find themselves beholden to childish wish lists and self-focused desires, regardless of the person’s age.

While I would happily opine about various conservative thought experiments, including JD Vance’s idea of giving parents additional “votes” to cast for each child they have. Or Ross Douthat and Lyman Stone’s paedobaptist-inspired proposal to make the voting age zero. Still, neither approach solves the problem Faust identifies: namely, self-centered adult decision-making.

Beyond cultural shifts and unlikely changes in voting laws, federal policymakers have powerful tools at their disposal to promote the best interest of children. One under-utilized tool is the Family Policymaking Assessment. Implemented during the Reagan administration and re-established by Congress in the Treasury and General Government Appropriations Act of 1999, the Family Policymaking Assessment is an incredible tool that, as John Shelton details, allows “members of Congress to request family-impact analyses from departments and agencies.” Thus, before a department or agency can implement a given rule that may affect the well-being of the family, Congress can inquire whether:

The action strengthens or erodes the stability or safety of the family, and particularly, the marital commitment;
The action strengthens or erodes the authority and rights of parents in the education, nurture, and supervision of their children;
The action helps the family perform its functions, or substitutes governmental activity for the function;
The action increases or decreases disposable income or poverty of families and children;
The proposed benefits of the action justify the financial impact on the family;
The action may be carried out by State or local government or by the family; and
The action establishes an implicit or explicit policy concerning the relationship between the behavior and personal responsibility of youth, and the norms of society.

Imagine if Congress took the time to ask even one of these questions before new, sweeping rules were implemented by the federal government? Or if the public flooded proposed rules with comments requesting such an analysis? Such pro-family assessments are within our power if we are willing to use it.

This is one example of practical and creative ways that policymakers can ensure that every law and regulation is considered from the perspective of the family. As Katy Faust’s summarizes,

What exactly would it look like if we put them (the children) before us (the adults)? How could our society improve if we considered their rights, needs, and well-being before our own? I daresay we would have secure, healthy, thriving children, and by extension a secure, healthy, thriving nation.

I couldn’t have said it better myself. So, if you’re interested in learning more about how to prioritize the well-being of children in one of the 19 cultural, economic, and national issue areas, Pro-Child Politics is a good place to start. You’ll find yourself equipped with interesting stories and reliable summaries of the most pressing issues of our day—just in time for the election and beyond.

Disclaimer: Emma Waters is employed by The Heritage Foundation where two of the chapter authors, Delano Squires and Lora Ries, are also employed.

Image Credit: Unsplash