J.D. Vance’s Hatred of the Childless Provides Insight into the Dark Heart of Republicanism
The past couple of weeks have put a spotlight on what is, for me, the biggest mystery of the past decade. What is the deal with undecided voters? I would love to live in an America where elections presented me with difficult choices. The current Republican party refuses to give me that opportunity. Joe Biden’s withdrawal from the presidential race and the reaction from Republicans reminded me why they are no choice at all. That reaction was to get angry and complain.
Because the world should have stopped spinning when they were ahead.
And not just in this election.
They wanted the world to freeze in place sometime around 1953 (not the tax rate though — that is rightfully lower and should continue to shrink). Back then, only a third of women entered the workforce, they earned roughly sixty percent of like-employed men (versus the eighty-four percent currently), and the birthrate was twice what it is today.
This last detail is particularly vexing to Donald Trump’s running mate, J.D. Vance. You may have seen videos of Vance from the past few years (his entire time in political life) which have recently surfaced . Beyond paling with Tucker Carlson about “childless cat ladies,” he pitched what he recently reframed as a “thought experiment” that people with children should get extra votes for those children, and espoused the belief that only in having children is one physically committed to the future of the country. He’s also recently doubled down on this, going so far as to call childless adults “sociopathic.”
Great.
Does he go on to present policy proposals to boost the birthrate based on research into why fewer people are choosing to have children? Of course not.
He and his party don’t present legislative initiatives aimed at cheaper housing and healthcare, or higher quality education. They actively deny that there is a climate crisis, another reason young adults are enthusiastic about bringing children into the world. I can’t resist adding that I personally know at least a half dozen couples with solid income who have chosen not to have children because of Donald Trump and the noxious environment he has helped unleash on the world. But the greatest failing is that Vance doesn’t even bother to connect this pet issue of his to the typical right-wing staples, decreasing taxes and controlling women’s bodies.
Because Vance, and his entire political party, doesn’t truly want to boost the birthrate, especially not amongst the people who are choosing to remain childless. They just want to use this to strengthen their “cultural divide” narrative. Much like they consistently refuse to even vote on legislation to address immigration and border issues. The fight, the rage, the ability to point fingers and accuse their fellow citizens of being un-American is the entire political strategy of the party. Because, they have rightly concluded, this helps them win. And winning is the only thing that matters to them.
It’s not that undecided voters choose to vote for angry, culture war rhetoric. But a lot of people choose not to pay any attention to politics because of it. That leads to an increased number of non-voters and, more-importantly, uninformed voters. These are our undecided voters.
I’ll remind you the choice is between a divisive and reactionary movement and simply struggling forward to continue the experiment of a diverse nation that provides relatively equal opportunity to all. Doesn’t seem hard. While my base instinct is to think of these people as idiots, I recognize that this is a tough choice when presented as war between friends and neighbors where you have to make an existential choice about the American way of life.
