How are the Children?

Rosalie Harris, one of the most loved and respected matriarchs of St. Johnsbury always asked me this question when we ran into each other. It is likely the most important question any community, country, the world can ask about it’s viability. If the children are doing well, the people are doing well. In the case of the United States, we are failing miserably. There is a very small window of opportunity to advance social change which President Pop Pop is implementing at warp speed. He plans to make the $300 monthly child credit permanent. There is talk about national pre-K for three and four year olds and making high quality, accessible child care affordable for all families. The US military actually is a role model for this kind of child friendly policy. I am nearly done watching Orange is the New Black (sliding into the finale very, very soon) and it is a miserable revelation of how we trap poor working families in a cycle of poverty that feeds the criminal justice system that is a ravenous beast that can never be satisfied.