I agree this is something folks on both sides of the aisle have good reasons to get behind. I think the part left and right most disagree on benefits for families is what to do about single parents, since they often can't work at all without childcare. My impression is that the left position is that single parents are more needy and need a bigger benefit, and the right position is that bigger benefits for two-parent households with one parent working are better because they encourage two-parent households and encourage work.
The issue of left/right coding reminds me that I think I've seen you describe yourself as right-of-center a couple times in the last few days, which I didn't pick up on, maybe because the issues you cover tend to be less partisan ones. I'm curious about what you'd consider your most right-leaning views.
> Instead of subsidizing day care centers, give the cash to parents and let them spend it on day care if they want to—or on something else if they prefer.
This is a great point (and I agree). It seems to me that most families know better than the government what's best for them––whether it's sending their child to daycare (and both working) or using that money to subsidize one of the parents staying home (or working part-time) and taking care of the child. Parents in a neighborhood could even pool their money together and create a local daycare. Money's much more fungible and thus gives parents the flexibility to make the decision that's best for them––it's the same reason I like philanthropic approaches like GiveDirectly.
I'm really not sure under what conditions it would be better to have a universal, public daycare system (which in all likelihood will be mediocre in quality) than to give parents the option to make their own decision.
Relating to the "left-coding" issue, I also don't really understand this rationale. Speaking as a somewhat left-leaning person myself (who also cares about gender equality), a policy that enables parents to decide how to divide their labor/resources seems much more freeing than one that encourages a particular course of action. If the outcome is that more women than men stay home, to me that's not the fault of the *policy*, it's about our society's existing gender norms.
I agree this is something folks on both sides of the aisle have good reasons to get behind. I think the part left and right most disagree on benefits for families is what to do about single parents, since they often can't work at all without childcare. My impression is that the left position is that single parents are more needy and need a bigger benefit, and the right position is that bigger benefits for two-parent households with one parent working are better because they encourage two-parent households and encourage work.
The issue of left/right coding reminds me that I think I've seen you describe yourself as right-of-center a couple times in the last few days, which I didn't pick up on, maybe because the issues you cover tend to be less partisan ones. I'm curious about what you'd consider your most right-leaning views.
> Instead of subsidizing day care centers, give the cash to parents and let them spend it on day care if they want to—or on something else if they prefer.
This is a great point (and I agree). It seems to me that most families know better than the government what's best for them––whether it's sending their child to daycare (and both working) or using that money to subsidize one of the parents staying home (or working part-time) and taking care of the child. Parents in a neighborhood could even pool their money together and create a local daycare. Money's much more fungible and thus gives parents the flexibility to make the decision that's best for them––it's the same reason I like philanthropic approaches like GiveDirectly.
I'm really not sure under what conditions it would be better to have a universal, public daycare system (which in all likelihood will be mediocre in quality) than to give parents the option to make their own decision.
Relating to the "left-coding" issue, I also don't really understand this rationale. Speaking as a somewhat left-leaning person myself (who also cares about gender equality), a policy that enables parents to decide how to divide their labor/resources seems much more freeing than one that encourages a particular course of action. If the outcome is that more women than men stay home, to me that's not the fault of the *policy*, it's about our society's existing gender norms.