Cradle To Grave

Wow.

Give the man credit:  he's standing up for cradle-to-grave government support, at least for women.  The focus on how women benefit from cradle-to-grave government wardship is an interesting one.

To some degree this is a practical fact of the kind of welfare state we've put together.  We tend to make transfer payments to the poor and the old.  Women make up the bulk of the one category because they tend to be the child-rearing parent in divorced families.  They make up the bulk of the other category because they live substantially longer.

Thus the split is an organic one, sort of:  it grows naturally out of supporting the poor and the old through government transfer payments.  The Obama administration is just doubling down on it, and trying to think of many ways to craft additional woman-specific payments and benefits.

Still, time was that accusing someone of being in favor of "cradle-to-grave" government involvement in our lives was a pretty serious charge.  Apparently the Obama administration thinks that, at least for women, the time has come to embrace it.

12 comments:

Texan99 said...

The government is my boyfriend! "Julia" sure doesn't have a flesh-and-blood husband or anything in any of those little vignettes.

It's almost as if the President (or his website) didn't think women had anything to offer. If the government weren't there, they wouldn't have anyone else in their lives providing income or support, from parents to employers to life partners. They'd just be sitting around saying, hey, who's going to pay my tuition and buy food for my baby?

Grim said...

Right you are.

Also, I can't help but notice that this life -- "Julia," the composite woman exemplar -- is quite successful. She's neither poor nor (until the very end) is she drawing on aid for the old. The concept is that she should be looking for government support at every stage of her life. The government will make her employer pay her more, make them provide her with free health care, make people give her loans at cheap rates (and forgive them after 20 years), make someone provide her with free health screenings....

So where's the matching graphic story about the poor sucker who is "made" to do all these things for her?

Anonymous said...

I'm impressed, but not in a positive way. This female-type person is repelled by the thought of cradle-to-grave government "support." What comes to mind is the worst of alliance marriages, where the woman is handed over by her father to an abusive, controlling creature who also fails to do his duty to protect and provide for her physical or spiritual welfare. Ugh!

LittleRed1

Cass said...

Words fail me.

Yeah, I know... "FINALLY!!", you're thinking :p

Texan99 said...

Perhaps we're being too hard on Julia? She did manage to become pregnant, without any obvious help from either a fellow human being or the Nanny State.

Cass said...

I dunno.... I heard it was an accident :p

/slip-sliding away

bthun said...

"I can't help but notice that this life -- "Julia," the composite woman exemplar"

How 'bout that...

"So where's the matching graphic story about the poor sucker who is "made" to do all these things for her?"

It's probably classified Top Secret, with a SCI level for Sandy Berger's BVDs.

"--Perhaps we're being too hard on Julia? She did manage to become pregnant, without any obvious help from either a fellow human being or the Nanny State."

Wait one. Didn't Monty Python make that film a while back?

*ducks, pivots, and heads back to ye ole garage*

Texan99 said...

Besides, didn't Mr. Nanny rather fall down on the job in the free contraception/abortion department?

Grim said...

You know, for a composite, Julia has a pretty specific life-arc. She does college prep, goes to and completes a four-year college, focuses on her career (in a nice creative technology-oriented field, not something nasty like the military or manufacturing), puts off childrearing until her 30s, has only and exactly one child, and then returns to her career as her key focus for the rest of her life until retirement. Then she does volunteer work in the community.

Apparently another word for "composite" is "stereotype." This is the perfect vision of what a woman's life should look like, from the perspective of your ordinary left-leaning American.

E Hines said...

What comes to mind is the worst of alliance marriages, where the woman is handed over by her father to an abusive, controlling creature who also fails to do his duty to protect and provide for her physical or spiritual welfare.

Don't you worry your pretty little head about it, Ma'am. Mr Government is on the case.

Eric Hines

Anonymous said...

Stick it in your ear, Mr. Government. This damsel will sort her own way out of distress, thankyouverymuch!

LittleRed1

BillT said...

Too eerily reminiscent of the Bund Deutscher Mädel and the Lebensborn Programs for comfort...