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opinion | Republicans say they want to protect children, but not all children


Here are some of the things Republicans are willing to do to protect children.

Republicans – in states like Tennessee, Oklahoma and Kentucky – are willing to ban or severely limit the practice of public dragging and other gender-incongruous acts.

Jack Johnson, the Senate majority leader in Tennessee and one of the state’s bans, wrote: “This bill gives parents confidence that they can bring their kids to see a show. public or private performance and will not be blinded by an obscene performance.” on Twitter.

“I can’t think of anything good that can come from taking children and putting them in front of a bunch of grown men dressed as women,” Gary Stubblefield saysan Arkansas senator wanted to enact a similar ban there.

The Republican Party is ready strictly prohibited or restricted discuss LGBTQ people and identities in public schools, as well as transgender health care for minors, to protect them from what they say is manipulation and abuse.

“We don’t want parents to abuse their children,” speak Shay Shelnutt, an Alabama senator whose bill restricting teaching and banning care was signed into law last year. “We don’t want to make that choice, because it is; That is child abuse. This is only to protect children.”

Republicans are willing to extend this defense to discussions of race and American history in public schools — the so-called critical theory of race — to protect students from guilt. guilt, shame, annoyance, and any other negative emotions. “The important racial theory is a divisive ideology that threatens to poison the American psyche,” said Dan Bishop, state representative in North Carolina. speak when he introduced the Stop CRT Act in 2021. “For the future of our children, we must stop any attempt to undo the truth about our founding and our country.”

And Republicans are willing to severely restrict or even ban the social network, out of concern that platforms like TikTok and Instagram could harm the mental health and well-being of children and young people. “We protect our children from drinking, smoking, driving,” said Representative Chris Stewart of Utah. who introduced an invoice that would make social media companies liable if they didn’t prevent children under 16 from accessing their websites and apps. “They can’t drive a car when they’re 12 years old. We should protect them from the effects of social media.”

In other words, there’s a lot that Republicans are willing to do to protect children from the world at large. But there is a limit. There are lines that the Republican Party will not cross.

For example, Republicans will not support universal school lunches to protect children from hunger. For example, when Minnesota Democrats pushed the measure during the most recent session of the state Legislature, one of their Republican colleagues vehemently opposed it. “I haven’t met a single person in Minnesota who says they don’t have enough food to eat,” said Steve Drazkowski, the state senator. speak. He, like most Republicans in the Legislature, voted against the bill.

In the United States Congress, most Republicans will not support a child grant to keep children and their families out of poverty. On health care, there are 10 states — Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kansas, Mississippi, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee, Wisconsin and Wyoming — where Republicans have denied the Medicaid expansion passed under the Affordable Care Act, left millions of Americans, many of them children, out of regular medical care.

And after another school massacre – in Nashville, where a gunman shot dead three adults and three children at a private Christian school — Republicans refuse to do anything that would reduce the likelihood of another shooting or reduce the likelihood of children dying from gun violence.

“There’s no one here who, if they can find the right approach, won’t try to do something because they feel pain,” said Senator Mike Rounds of South Dakota. in an interview with CNN’s Kaitlan Collins on Wednesday. “However, when we start talking about bans or Second Amendment challenges, I think the things that have been done have gone as far as we would with gun control.”

“It was a terrible, terrible situation,” Representative Tim Burchett said of Tennessee, who represents the county in question. “And we’re not going to fix it. Criminals will be criminals.”

In 2021, According to the Centers for Disease Control and PreventionFirearms are the leading cause of death for children and adolescents in the United States.

When you put all of this together, the picture is clear. Republicans will use the law and the state to protect as many children as possible from knowledge, cultural influences, and technology deemed divisive or controversial or subversive by voters. , activists and apparatus that shape and guide party priorities. When Tucker Carlson, Christopher Rufo and Moms for Liberty said to dance, their only question was: How tall?

But when it comes to real threats to the lives of American children – from poverty, hunger, disease and guns – Republicans want us to slow down and weigh the costs and consequences. and even the possible futility of using any action to help.

on Tuesday, I wrote about the fundamental deception behind the slogan “parental rights”. What sounds like an appropriate consideration for parents as the most important adults in most children’s lives is in fact a rallying cry for a small group of parents. most conservative and reactionary parents who wanted state veto power over the education of all children. in the community. It was a Trojan horse for the gradual destruction of public schools.

The same goes for repeated calls to protect children. The way they talk about them, these children are not real, living and vulnerable children. They are a symbol, and calls to defend them are an excuse, an excuse to use the state against the perceived cultural enemies of the American right. These child advocates are not all concerned with young people as citizens with their own rights and interests.

The dark irony in all of this is that when Republicans turn the idea of ​​children against gay people as well as transgender and other gender nonconforming Americans, it becomes more likely that children will actually try to harm themselves, out of fear or despair or feelings of isolation or all of the above.

It seems that not all children deserve to be protected.

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