Via Matt Yglesias, here is a graph of comparative defense spending among nations.
The U.S. spends nearly three times as much on defense as China and Russia.
And, via Yglesias, here is a graph showing countries with paid parental leave programs that give parents time off to take care of child care duties.
Among all Western nations, only the U.S. lacks paid parental leave.
A correlation is not a cause, but one could hypothesize that there is a causal connection here. We lack sufficient child care institutions because we spend too much money on defense.
We think it is more important to spend billions on fantasy weapon systems we don’t need so we can strut about on the world stage pretending to be that last great hope of humankind instead of really taking care of our future.
Tags: ethics of care, military spending, paid parental leave
Conservatives support family values by complaining about the “moral weakness” of people who struggle to make a living. They do nothing to make it easier for families to prosper. After all, if you make things too easy for people they won’t learn their lessons.
Not to mention the horrible lack of support for our family structure.. Could this be how conserv’s support family values…