First families

I slept fitfully and repeatedly dreamed of the migrant family, as enshrined by Christianity.

La familia sagrada.

The holy family versus Herod, the king. The family as a bulwark against the state.

But even the liberal state, which replaces the primacy of clans with intentional communities, is the sum of countless families.

The interplay between, and within, families is a perennial topic of our political coverage, be it “hard news” or entertainment.

And yet… a great deal of formal political discourse still relegates family affairs to the fringes, or “special interests”; primarily, to those concerned with the patriarchy – its proponents and detractors.*

If feminists are on the fringes, it’s because they are leading the way.

Justice starts at home. Equality starts at home. The pursuit of life, liberty and happiness starts at home.

I know these truths have long been known but they remain in a kind of “closet”.

*postscript

Eric Levitz:

Thus, the bedrock logic of the alliance between social conservatives and reactionary capitalists was this: One valued “small government” because it (supposedly) enabled the patriarchal family (and/or racial hierarchy), while the other valued the family because it enabled “small government.”

*p.p.s. Feb 19, 2019 

Jonathan Cohn:

In 1971, Congress passed a major child care bill that looks a lot like Warren’s today. Nixon, responding to conservative advisers, vetoed it and said it was anti-family.

postscript mar 25, 2019

Katelyn Burns:

Several Trump administration officials, congresspeople, and anti-choice activists recently attended a “Make Families Great Again” conference hosted by the Hungarian embassy to discuss policies to entice women to “have more babies.”