George W. Bush and the Republican Party love embryos and fetuses, but their concern for children who have already been born is less apparent. The “unborn” are so loved by the right wing that the President signed the Unborn Victims of Violence Act (UVVA), a federal law that increases penalties for assaults or injuries to pregnant women in the commission of federal offenses. The President even invited the family of pregnant murder victim Laci Peterson to the bill signing. The bill is also known as the Laci and Connor Law. The President left no stone unturned in resorting to heavy handed sentiment to disguise the true intent of the legislation.

The UVVA makes “the unborn” persons with rights. Needless to say, supporters of the legislation would like to see Roe v. Wade overturned and with it the right to safe, legal abortions. These same people are opposed to any measure that the government can use to assist poor children and their families. The Senate deadlocked on the reauthorization of the Welfare Reform Act when Democrats and Republicans could not agree on issues such as the number of hours worked by welfare recipients, money for childcare, increasing the minimum wage and the elimination of overtime for white collar workers.

Living, breathing children don’t need to have parents with decent incomes or money for childcare. For that matter they don’t even need to be with their parents. Under the guise of protecting abused children, House Majority Leader Tom DeLay wants to make it easier to send foster children away from their home states.

Many children in foster care have been abandoned or abused, but others have been taken from their homes because their parents spank them or because there is domestic violence in the home. A swat on the behind can now send a child into the foster care system, especially when the parents are not white. If DeLay gets his wish women will be forced to give birth to children whether they want to or not, and will then have them taken away to another state. There has not been such a horrendous proposal since Newt Gingrich proposed a return to orphanages.

The President’s No Child Left Behind educational act is opposed by states and localities across the nation because it provides no funding for its ill-conceived provisions. It sounds good to allow children to transfer out of poorly performing school districts but if there are no slots in the better districts the point is moot and the bill is an expensive waste of time. There is even a little known provision, section 9528, which requires school districts to give the military access to students names and addresses for recruiting purposes. Perhaps the Republicans do care about children. They have to save them for warfare later in life.

Politicians always claim to love children. Baby kissing is the norm across the political spectrum. The President’s favorite photo-ops take place in classrooms and the more brown faces the better. The reality of his concern for children is quite different. Tax cuts that favor the wealthiest take money from the most vulnerable children in American society. America’s high rate of incarceration disproportionately affects black male children, who have a 1 in 3 chance of going to jail at some point in their lives.

Bush was able to pretend he was not a doctrinaire right-winger because he promised to be the “education president.” Voters were told about the miracle in Houston, Texas public schools that drastically lowered drop out rates and raised test scores. Unfortunately it was all a lie. Houston had cooked its educational books. High school drop out rates went unreported and tests were rigged when failing students were prevented from taking them. The architect of this fraud, Rod Paige, was rewarded with an appointment to a cabinet level position, Secretary of Education. It isn’t enough that he presided over a hoax but he recently called members of the National Education Association “terrorists.” We all know what happens to anyone charged with being a terrorist. They end up in Guantanamo Bay without access to counsel or even being charged with a crime. Perhaps that will be the next Republican educational proposal for unruly kids and educators who tell the truth.

The right wing love for the fetus but neglect if not hatred for children is summed up by the attitude of a fisherman with a disappointing catch. “Throw ‘em back, kill ‘em later.” The right wing encouragement of child bearing without any concern for the care or education of children is very sinister and reminiscent of fascist regimes that honored and rewarded large families. They also had no regard for life and wanted to snatch as many young people as possible for use as cannon fodder.

The Bush administration has gone to more extreme measures to insure that not only are no children left behind, but that they keep on coming. They were not content to ban partial birth abortion. Attorney General John Ashcroft demanded the medical records of thousands of women who have undergone the procedure, lest anyone forget themselves and think that they still have civil liberties. Hospitals and physicians are now being asked to help big brother keep women in line and prevent them from exercising their reproductive rights.

Mr. Ashcroft is very pious, he and his staff start the work day with prayer, but he has serious issues with female sexuality. One of his first acts as Attorney General was to cover a naked breast on a statute that no one else had complained about or even noticed was naked. Ashcroft is the last person who should have any power over the lives of American women.

The same can be said for the entire Bush administration. They invoke the name of God in everything they do, including going to war. They put children first when it comes to reproduction, but they are always the last ones into the lifeboats.

Margaret Kimberley’s Freedom Rider column appears weekly in .  Ms. Kimberley is a freelance writer living in New York City.  She can be reached via e-Mail at [email protected]. You can read more of Ms. Kimberley's writings at http://freedomrider.blogspot.com/

April 8 2004
Issue 85

is published every Thursday.