Policy debates in the United States primarily focus on the contrived benefits to “consenting adults.” This is especially true concerning marriage, legalization and usage of drugs, and crime enforcement. Policymakers advocate for autonomy, “rights,” and new-found efficiency in the legal system, but rarely evaluate the outsized effects such policies have on the most vulnerable in our nation — children.
Policy never exists in a vacuum. The laws we enact today will eventually harm or help every one of our children, often in foreseeable and disproportionate ways. One of the greatest harms to children is the deconstruction and impairment of the family.
For instance, consider the decriminalization of drugs. Advocates for mainstream marijuana use tend to argue along two lines: To begin with, they contend the “war on drugs” fills our prisons with people who don’t belong there while having no real deterrent upon usage and practice. Secondly, they argue that criminalization makes it harder for addicts to get the help they need in order to recover.
While not debating the merits of these policy positions, neither argument considers the disproportionate effects to children under the care of drug users nor the impact of legalized drugs in close proximity to children who lack fully developed reasoning. We cannot focus policy debate upon adults only, while turning a blind eye toward the needs of our children.
There is a demonstrable link between substance abuse in parents and the likelihood children will suffer abuse, neglect, maltreatment — and eventually enter the foster care system. Using narcotics can be labeled as therapeutic, autonomous freedom, or even a victimless crime; however, their usage has a far-reaching impact on babies in the womb, children in the home, and youth in need of consistent support and supervision. Further, adolescent and young adult drug usage creates a culture that continues to devalue life, family, and flourishing: all things that children need in order to thrive and ultimately become the leaders of the next generation.
The effects of policy decisions focused on adults only are not limited to drug policy. Policies that undermine traditional marriage weaken families and harm children as well. Research has amply documented the fact that children need healthy, regular interaction with both a deeply-invested man and a woman during early developmental stages in order to flourish.
We take the crucial role of mothers for granted, but fathers are no less essential to the well-being of children: Emotional, intellectual, social and long-term economic outcomes are all improved by the full presence of both a mom and dad in a loving, committed relationship.
Families make up the fabric underlying all of society, while nuclear families are the single most important protection for children against child neglect, suffering, trauma, and adult malaise. The primary purpose of the government, in fact, is to support, protect, and undergird the nuclear family.
The Founders knew and wholeheartedly endorsed this fact. James Wilson wrote that the family is “the true origin of society,” the fertile ground out of which all of civilization would spring. Thomas Jefferson wrote to his brother that “no society is so precious as that of one’s family.”
Our children are our future. We must develop policy that allows for children to thrive, and for that reason, we must develop policy that strengthens the family — and considers the future.
“Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb a reward,” reads the Christian Bible in Psalm 127. “Like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the children of one's youth. Blessed is the man who fills his quiver with them! He shall not be put to shame when he speaks with his enemies in the gate.”
A society that thinks only of itself is doomed to ruin. A society that refuses to account for children in its political decisions doesn’t just harm children in present-day America, but weakens the coming generation before it is even their time to lead.
Self-centered policies do nothing but ensure a bleak future for ourselves and for generations to come. Adults must not be put to shame because they allowed their children to bear the suffering in order to give license for the whims of today.