Child abuse in the USA: low tax, no services, little future

Anyone interested in crime and criminal justice should read this excellent BBC story, written by a former human services commissioner for the state of Maine, about the extraordinary extent of child abuse in the USA, and how higher rates of it can persuasively be seen as starting with state/governmental/public service cut-backs. The US child death rate is 3 times that of Canada and 11 times that of Italy; and probably more given the likely level of under-recording in the USA.

America's child death shame

It also shows the human links between taxation policy and social problems; between technical fiscal calculations and a child's blood on the floor. It raises the question: how can modern societies and rich elites possibly imagine that there is a free ride whereby you can cut public service budgets and have no tragic, costly and brutal results? There is also this issue: isn't the Governor of Texas, Rick Perry, a likely presidential candidate and what would the impact on a global scale be, of policies like this, if he came to power?

Here is a passage from the story:

"Geography matters a lot in determining child well-being. Take the examples of Texas and Vermont. Texas prides itself in being a low tax, low service state. Its per capita income places it in the middle of the states, while its total tax burden - its willingness to tax itself - is near the bottom. Vermont, in contrast, is at the other extreme. It is a high-tax, high-service state.

Mix of risks

In looking at key indicators of well-being, children from Texas are twice as likely to drop out of high school as children from Vermont. They are four times more likely to be uninsured, four times more likely to be incarcerated, and nearly twice as likely to die from abuse and neglect.

In Texas, a combination of elements add to the mix of risks that a child faces. These include a higher poverty rate in Texas, higher proportions of minority children, lower levels of educational attainment, and a political culture which holds a narrower view of the role of government in addressing social issues.

Texas, like many other traditionally conservative states, is likely to have a weaker response to families that need help in the first place, and be less efficient in protecting children after abuse occurs." 

If ever you wanted a damning indictment of right-wing Republicanism in the USA, indeed of right-wing thinking anywhere, this was it. So, vote Republican, or Conservative in the UK, if you want to feather your own nest, stick your head up your arse in wilful ignorance, and damn everyone else to a life of hell. I despair of the human species. One glorious day, politicians will, like drivers, have to apply for a licence to practice their dark art and politics like these would not be given one. Like what's happened to fascism in effect.....

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