Families are the building blocks of our communities, our nation, our civilization — even our species. The health and well-being of children is of utmost importance to a functioning society. Innately, adults understand that children’s interests should be put ahead of their own, so much so that what one does to protect or harm the innocent provides a suitable definition of good and evil.
Yet, as strong as that instinct is in our personal lives, the concept of putting children ahead of adults is often left behind when it comes to creating public policy. For example, we let adult transients occupy parks and public spaces meant for families and children. We mandated that children mask up and receive experimental shots for a disease to which they were virtually immune — all so adults wouldn’t get sick. We are presently saddling our children with mountains of debt so we don’t have to cut spending — even though our governments have run out of money.
Far from being first in public policy, children are often victimized by it. In fact, the youngest and most vulnerable among them are the only demographic it is legal to kill — and it’s often done merely for the convenience of adults. According to a 2004 Guttmacher Institute survey, the top reason given by women for having an abortion was “having a baby would dramatically change my life.” We needn’t argue about whether or not a baby was growing in the womb because the would-be mothers sure seemed to think it was — that’s why they got the abortion: for the mother’s (and possibly the father’s) convenience.
There couldn’t be a clearer example of adults putting themselves ahead of children than aborting a baby because he or she would be an inconvenience to adults. Yet we are told this act is a positive good. In every other arena of life, we equate “good” with those who give voice to the voiceless, protect the innocent and sacrifice themselves to help the vulnerable. Strangely, when it comes to abortion in particular and public policy in general, the most innocent and vulnerable among us are victimized, and most people don’t even consider it harmful.
It is, of course, not sustainable for a civilization to de-prioritize children this way.
Rather, nearly all our societal ills can be cured by aligning public policy with the concept of putting children ahead of adults. Call it a “Families First” approach.
Recently, during the COVID-19 pandemic, frightened adults put themselves ahead of kids’ mental and physical health by shutting down their schools and playgrounds, mandating mask-wearing and pushing youngsters to receive a not fully tested vaccine even though children were virtually immune from the disease. If health policy instead followed the Families First model, where adults can’t be placed ahead of children, the result would have been much healthier children and a faster path to herd immunity that would have benefited all populations. As it is, we will long be cleaning up the mess made by an adults-first public policy.
Blowing out the national debt on social programs is seen as “good” and “compassionate,” though our children will have to pay it all back. The Families First model would prevent what amounts to robbing children’s piggy banks and put the country on a path to fiscal sanity.
Lawmakers claim it is moral to make parks and public spaces safe for homeless adults to reside in, often while continuing their drug addictions, while rendering them unsafe places for children to play. By putting Families First, compassion for children would outweigh the compassion for those adults, and the result would be cleaner and safer communities.
By demanding that every policy put the interests of children ahead of adults, the Families First model would boost policies that protect children. This would go a long way to reversing societal decay. The core principle of always putting children ahead of adults is innately understood, universally accepted and provides the winning moral position for any policy.
Eric Ingemunson is the author of hundreds of articles on Ventura County public policy, and his work has appeared in the Ventura County Star, CNN, and Fox News. He earned a Master’s degree in Public Policy and Administration from California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks and served as a board member for youth sports and Boy Scouts. He resides in Moorpark with his wife and four children and is active in the homeschooling community.
