Suffer the Little Children

[Donnachaidh]

http://smirkingchimp.com/thread/bob-burnett/34900/suffer-the-little-children

When I was growing up in the fifties, my parents, grandparents, and all the adults I knew lived an ethic of sacrifice. During the Great Depression and World War II they'd learned it was sometimes necessary to sacrifice for our children. This moral precept used to be shared throughout the U.S., but recently it's been lost. As a consequence, Congress now threatens to abandon America's children.

Americans cherish the notion that we are the number one nation on earth; that no matter what the metric is the U.S. comes out ahead of other countries. But that's far from the truth when the focus is on how we treat our children. A recent study rated developed nations in terms of a children's index and the U.S. came in 34th out 43 -- Sweden was number 1 and Bosnia 43; Canada was 21 and England 24. The Children's Index included infant mortality and in 2009 the U.S. had an infant mortality rate of 6.3 percent. According to the UN that placed us 33rd among 195 nations (the CIA ranked us 46th among 226 nations) -- Iceland was number 1, while England and Canada were 22 and 23. Furthermore, among industrialized nations only Mexico has a higher percentage of children living in poverty than does the US.

We're not only not number one in terms of how we treat our children, but over time our ranking has deteriorated. Why? What's happened to us?

Despite our differences on other issues, Americans once agreed on the necessity for caring for all our children. For Christians this ethic stemmed from Jesus' teaching, "And who shall receive one such little child in my name receiveth me" (Matthew 18). For legalists, the admonition derived from the Parens Patriae concept in English common law, the notion that the King was ultimately the "father" of all children and, therefore, the state could intercede to protect them. Then something shifted in our collective morality.

More at the link --

[Angry Dragon]

1. The powers that be have determined that the greed of today

is more important than the future.........
They are willing to sacrifice their own children to do this

[Cirque du So-What]

2. Ummm, they're willing to sacrifice OUR children

Thanks to the best of everything money can buy and due to diligent efforts on their part to buy votes assuring the generational transfer of wealth without paying taxes, THEIR children will be fine.

[Angry Dragon]

3. Everything is connected

They think their children and grandchildren will be fine...
They are destroying the world where they live
thinking their money and wealth is their salvation
But at the same time there are others that will do
anything and everything to get that wealth
If things go as they are then things will get worse
and their children will become targets

They are tuning this world into a cesspool that they will leave for their heirs

[PassingFair]

4. This attitude exists even HERE:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=628973&mesg_id=628973

In this very forum.