Republicans prefer war and gay-bashing over helping America's children

Of the 21 industrialized nations that UNICEF studied for "Child Well-Being," children living in Britain and the United States ranked last and second to last respectively. Considering the fact that each country's leader has a special affinity for war-making, it makes sense that the children of their nations would fare so poorly.

George W. Bush and Congressional Republicans have been quick to rationalize and defend spending nearly one-half trillion dollars on invading, bombing, and occupying Iraq, but are completely incapable of finding a single reason to properly fund child healthcare and education.

One suspects the political priorities might be similar in the United Kingdom.

More than 36 million Americans live in poverty, greater than 44 million citizens of the United States don't have any health insurance whatsoever, one-in-four American children live below the official poverty line, and children and families account for the fastest growing group in the homeless population.

Combining the 2008 defense budget and funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Mister Bush is requesting nearly one trillion dollars for the Department of Defense. Even without considering the billions upon billions of dollars in tax breaks that the former Republican-controlled Congress bestowed upon record-breaking corporate profiteers like EXXON, it is easy to see that America's children and families just aren't a priority.America prides itself on being a "Christian" nation, but seems to lack Jesus-like values.

In America today there are endless streams of funding for war, bombs, and tax cuts for the super-wealthy and next to nothing for children and the poor.

As America's children wallow near the bottom of every measure of well-being, Christians in the United States have busied themselves cheerleading war and defense spending, while simultaneously fomenting gay-hate. Often it seems like an American Christian's perfect scenario would be to force the government to bomb homosexuals. After all, war and gay people are the only two issues that seem to motivate the extremist evangelical community.

When was the last time America's Christian community rallied to bring attention to the plight of the homeless? When was the last time James Dobson, Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwell or any prominent Christian leader attempted to highlight the dilemma of America's poor children? Can anyone even remember the last time the words "poor" or "poverty" fell from the lips of a single Republican Christian leader?

That the United States and United Kingdom rank so poorly in the child well-being study shouldn't be a shock. It doesn't seem that either nation's government is nearly fond of children as they are of starting and fighting wars. There is something inherently vulgar about the fact that two of the world's wealthiest and most Christian nations place so much value in their ability to wage war and so little stock in how they treat their poor, hungry, and children. Perhaps, too, America's children would be better of if a so-called Christian leader or two spent a little less time trying to deny gay people the right to marry and a little more time attempting to marry more children with proper food, finances, and education.