Virtually every issue we debate in our country has one common element. There are two different views about if and when government should insert itself into private citizens’ lives.

Here are several examples where some state legislatures, supported by activist citizens, are implementing laws in the interest of protecting children.

Laws are coming soon to ban or severely limit medical treatment of transgender children. Never mind that trained healthcare specialists consult with parents to determine appropriate treatment, including counseling, for such children.

Other laws are in the works to protect sports integrity from transgender children – specifically domination of a sport by a girl who used to be a boy. Never mind that there probably isn’t a single state legislator who could name five examples of this happening.

State governments are asserting themselves to determine what books should be available to children. Never mind that library professionals are trained to determine what books have value, and parents have the option to restrict books from their children at the school library.

State laws are restricting human biology education in schools as well as history education. Never mind that what they are banning is factual and that there is no evidence whatsoever that this factual information is harmful to children.

Some states, with support of activist parents, have harassed schools that require vaccines … and that required masking and social distancing during the COVID pandemic. Never mind that any family doctor worth their diploma would tell you these were important measures to protect children’s health.

All of these “child protection” issues are American culture war issues, and they dominate our news. More substantive issues are far more threatening.

There are 9 million children in the U.S. who are “food insecure,” meaning they cannot count on having their next meal when they get hungry. During the pandemic, the U.S. government provided significant help to such children.
One form of help was an increased Child Tax Credit, which was paid monthly. Another form of help was increased SNAP funding (known as food stamps). These forms of governmental help are being phased out by many of the same people fighting the culture wars to protect children.

This problem is not unique to the U.S. About 350 million children worldwide are food insecure. A child dies every 10 seconds in our world due to malnutrition. A significant amount of U.S. foreign aid goes to help such children. This funding is currently on our governmental budget chopping block.

There are 4.2 million children in the U.S. without health insurance, despite the progress made by Obamacare.
Percentages vary by state, because some states accepted Medicaid help from the U.S. government and others rejected it on ideological principles.

The state of Missouri continues to figure out how to restrict Medicaid despite its citizens passing a constitutional amendment requiring the legislature to increase eligibility.

There are 400,000 American children in foster care. Most states provide far less funding than is needed to take care of such children and help them grow into independent and productive adults. This is especially true when mental health issues are present.

Despite ranking near the bottom with regard to the help it provides foster care the state of Missouri has prioritized a tax cut instead, because they have a budget surplus.

The leading cause of childhood deaths in the U.S. is firearm-related deaths. Every school regularly practices active shooter drills in coordination with local law enforcement.

Some states have passed laws that ensure only responsible adult citizens can purchase firearms, as well as laws to temporarily take away firearms when mental health issues are identified.

In these states, no one has lost their right to own firearms. And these states have realized significant reductions in child firearm deaths. Other states have prioritized fighting the above mentioned culture wars over common sense firearm regulation.

Triage is a process well known in healthcare. Hospitals, ERs and clinics assess the urgency of patient needs, focusing resources on the most critical. All organizations face more needs than they have resources to meet, and thus have to triage priorities.

If we’re interested in protecting children, it seems the most critical priorities are ensuring they can eat, get healthcare, get parental love and guidance in the absence of parents, and not have to worry about being gunned down in their school or some other community gathering.

If you want to be a citizen activist for children they would probably appreciate your voice to address these critical needs and your vote for representatives that share similar priorities.