Antipoverty programs reduced the national poverty rate from 26 percent in 1967 to 15 percent in 2015 but, as the Center for Budget Policies and Priorities has documented, that figure would return to its 1967 levels if those programs were eliminated.
That's why authors of the Health Affairs report are so concerned about Trump's budget and its impact on child mortality in this country. It's why we should all be concerned about the Republicans' refusal to renew the CHIP program, at least so far.
Sure, House Speaker Paul Ryan talks a good game about this critical program. But, as Dylan Matthews points out, he's had more than enough time to protect it. Worse, Ryan's lifelong ideology of stripping the poor of even minimal government support stands in opposition to programs like CHIP -- and his ideology is shared by many members of his party.
The Republicans may pass some version of it eventually, if only out of fear of the political consequences. But for now, unfortunately, they're holding it -- and the 9 million American children who depend on it -- hostage, as part of their budget gamesmanship.
We're willing to keep tens of millions of Americans in perpetual poverty, and to sacrifice the children of poor and working Americans, to perpetuate a system that gives us growing inequality and the loss of political and economic power. Why are we so indifferent to these children?
In part, it's a problem of white indifference. Contrary to popular white assumptions, 31 percent of poor children are white, and 24 percent are black. 36 percent are Hispanic, and 1 percent are indigenous. But most white people probably don't know that. Their racial stereotypes allow them to assume that the poor are "other." For some, that results in a lack of empathy.
Nevertheless, people of color are hardest hit by poverty. Although they are not the largest group of the poor, they are disproportionately affected because they are minorities. Overall, only 14 percent of white toddlers and infants in this country is poor. By contrast, 42 percent of all black children in this group are poor. So are one-third of all Hispanic children, and 37 percent of Native American children.
But most white people don't know that, and many don't care.
Sexism and Child HealthSexism is also a major source of the problem. Child health depends heavily on a mother's health, both during pregnancy and afterwards. Our culture, political and otherwise, has been notoriously indifferent -- if not downright hostile -- to the health needs of American women.
The needs of working women are also a subject of political neglect. Wage theft, unplanned shift changes, low wages, hostile work environments, lack of family leave: all these factors make life hard for working mothers to provide for their children, give them a healthy environment, and get them the medical care they need.
Even the subject of children's health itself is often treated as a "women's issue," as if men don't care about their kids. In our sick political life, it's not helpful when something is labeled a "women's issue."
Money TalksThen there's greed. In our oligarchical political system, neither child health nor income inequality can be addressed without mildly inconveniencing the very wealthy.
Democratic politicians aren't talking enough about this issue, either. That's partially because they need donors, too. And they, like others, follow the media's lead more than they guide it.
Perhaps they, and the well-intentioned voters who support them, could spend less time mocking the personal qualities of Republicans they don't like and more time talking about the deaths of American children.
Breaking the Circle
The child mortality study begins in 1961. The youngest child to die needlessly that year would be 56 years old today, and the oldest would in her seventies. Many of them would have had children, and grandchildren, of their own. Theirs are the faces we don't see, the voices we don't hear. Their thoughts and ideas and deeds, which might have enriched our lives in so many ways, will never be expressed.
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