People Without Children Are Not Without Concerns

Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance (or, as some have affectionately called him, Just Dumb Vance) may only be 39 years old, but his beliefs and ideals toward people without children are as antiquated as the now-defunct Ford Model T, which was produced from October 1908 to May 1927.

Vance’s first and most infamous claim says, “We’re effectively run in this country, via the Democrats, via our corporate oligarchs, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too. And it’s just a basic fact. You look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC – the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children.”

As if that wasn’t bad enough, additional comments from a November 2020 conservative podcast quoted Vance as saying that people without children are “more sociopathic” than those with children and have made this great country “less mentally stable.” 

Unafraid to further entrench his misaligned views based on modern-day society, Vance added that the “most deranged” and “most psychotic” individuals on X were typically childless.

Whether you’re a Democrat, Republican, or Independent, please take a moment to process Vance’s statements fully. To help, I’ll “Just Dumb” down what Vance is claiming, as it is a bit incoherent.

If you don’t have biological children, you lack the patriotism necessary to maintain and advance American democracy.

My wife and I are people without children, and I take offense to Vance’s judgmental and archaic notion that we’re less patriotic and less concerned about the future of America because we’re childless.

While we’re not ashamed or unwilling to discuss our reasons for being childless, it’s nobody’s business but my wife and me, regardless of what many presumptuous politicians believe.

While Vance made his comments before he was chosen as the Republican vice presidential nominee, he’s continued to double down on those claims.

It’s almost as though he’s proud to show Americans that his 39-year-old mind is wired to be reactionary, which in political science terms means having beliefs and actions that oppose the direction of social progress.

Surprisingly, Republicans have been uncharacteristically quiet about Vance’s claims. However, some have chastised the media for misinterpreting his overall meaning, saying they were strictly satirical or justifying their severity by saying he has such a steadfast love of family.

But their silence is telling, as the party fears Vance’s baseless claims are being negatively perceived by voters, especially younger voters who are tiring of old-school politics and the continual attacks on the freedoms we all hold dear, even those without children.

Five United States presidents had no biological children: James Polk, Warren Harding, James Buchanan, Andrew Jackson, and perhaps the most identifiable, George Washington.

As history confirms, Washington’s lack of biological children had no negative impact on his investment in or commitment to America’s humble beginnings and prosperous and successful future.

Remember this: As long as you’re a living, breathing, compassionate citizen of the United States of America, whether single, married, widowed, or childless, you will always be invested in the country you call home and the ethics by which it abides.

Here’s information the Republicans, especially Mr. Vance, should attempt to understand about millions of American citizens nationwide.

Just because someone doesn’t have children of their own doesn’t mean such individuals don’t have children in their lives—children whom they love with their hearts and whose futures they’re undoubtedly concerned about in our divided nation. Here are a few examples.

My wife has been a special education high school teacher for the last twenty-plus years. She is deeply involved with her students, both academically and personally. She counsels them through their uniquely complex challenges and burdens, listening compassionately and encouraging unconditionally.

Hundreds of children have walked through her classroom over the last twenty-plus years, and her work is more of a calling, helping those who sometimes struggle to help themselves.

Teachers are a rare group of dedicated individuals whose career choice was not determined by societal notoriety or high-paying salaries.

They aim to educate, motivate, mentor, and inspire children, teens, and young adults from all walks of life to be ideal citizens, which in turn encourages social progress for everyone in our country.

That’s a selfless investment in America’s future, and we should thank all educators throughout history for their contributions, especially since their students aren’t their children.

Another example would be our niece and nephew, whose presence we genuinely cherish. We even relocated across the country to be active in their lives.

We are now watching them grow, develop, and navigate through childhood and into adolescence, worried about the unavoidable challenges society will pose and what conditions our social and environmental climates will be like for them as adults.

Are you telling me that my wife and I have no investment in the future of America because these two precious little beings are not our children, even though they are a close part of our family? That seems shortsighted at best.

People without children know what’s at stake

Canadian writer Charles de Lint writes, “I don’t want to live in the kind of world where we don’t look out for each other. Not just the people that are close to us, but anybody who needs a helping hand.”

Being a United States citizen, regardless of the circumstance, comes with the basic understanding that you “look out for each other” and “anybody who needs a helping hand.”

The criteria for being such a sympathetic adult citizen of the United States of America does not mandate or require the presence of biological children to genuinely care about the critical issues of our country, such as racial discrimination, gender stereotypes, reproductive freedoms, economics, climate change, white supremacy, and more.

What is required, however, is to be a free-thinking adult who can look beyond all the hate messaging designed to elicit fear and divisiveness, messaging aimed at returning this country to a period in history where those with the most power in government, communities, and homes were white heterosexual men.

My wife and I may well be the people without children that Vance criticizes, but we are also citizens of the United States of America with a long, devoted history in this country.

We’ve been raised and educated to revere this great nation, be grateful for its bounties, and do our part whenever possible to help maintain this land of the free and home of the brave.

What concerns me about American society today, Mr. Vance, is NOT the people without children but those like yourself who lack the personal values that make a nation and its citizens admirable.

Values such as honesty, loyalty, kindness, courage, accountability, authenticity, humility, empathy, and altruism, to name a few.

These characteristics help build and maintain a fair and ethical society, uniting individuals from all walks of life and situations to demand more from the bullies in government who believe they possess the right to say who is and is not invested in the country we call home.

During his presidency, Franklin D. Roosevelt, the 32nd President of the United States, conducted a series of 30 evening radio conversations known as Fireside Chats. These conversations were conducted to help suppress rumors, counter propaganda in the media, and explain policies directly to the American people.

In one such chat Roosevelt said, “Let us never forget that government is ourselves and not an alien power over us. The ultimate rulers of our democracy are not a President and Senators and Congressmen and Government officials but the voters of this country.”

Voters are the ultimate rulers in American democracy, even though Vance and his cronies believe my wife and I, and all other people without children, should not have our rightful say in government affairs.

But as I’ve done since registering to vote thirty-one years ago, I will exercise my right as an American citizen in a free and fair election to make sure bullies like Vance never achieve political greatness.

There’s no better investment in America’s future, especially today, than voting for integrity and dignity this coming November, something Vance and his team have much to learn about.