In a video clip puzzling both for its transparency and its open attack on the traditional family structure, Barack Obama said “we” (whoever that is) don’t want any Americans to make the choice to be stay-at-home parents:
And sometimes, someone, usually Mom, leaves the workplace to stay home with the kids, which then leaves her earning a lower wage for the rest of her life as a result. That’s not a choice we want Americans to make.
The context of this statement was concerning a lack of good childcare facilities. So maybe what Obama meant was, “Most mothers would rather be earning a higher wage, but they can’t because there isn’t any good childcare around. We don’t want Americans to have to make a choice between good care for their children and a higher wage. That’s not a choice we want Americans to have to make. We want Americans to have both.”
But that’s not what he said. And that’s not really not how it came off either. It sounded more like, “We need to provide childcare because we would rather mothers not stay at home.” Why? Why does the civil government care whether mothers are at home with their kids or not? No matter how you answer that, it is going to sound rather sinister:
- “We want your children in government childcare immediately, so we can begin their education early and control them from their youngest days.”
- “We want mothers to earn a higher wage, so we can collect more money in taxes.”
Yeah. That doesn’t sound Orwellian at all.
To be clear, what we need in this country is more stay-at-home parents. Not fewer. We need more families willing to make financial sacrifices to take a more active role in the raising of their children. Not less.
And we need to stop making it seem like being a stay-at-home parent is somehow a demotion in dignity and usefulness. My wife is a stay-at-home mom. She works way harder and way smarter than most of the “empowered” career men and women I know. I dare say if she and Obama switched places, this country would be far better off and my family would be in shambles. So there’s that.
Long live the stay-at-home parents. May they continue teaching their children to reject the fables and myths of our (wanna-be) maternal civil government.