Trump Politicized Children. Democrats Should Empower Them.

Mark Schmitt  wrote for the New York Times about how a political agenda centered around children could contribute to progressive renewal. 

For years, I’ve held onto a memo that a professional mentor gave me around 1990, a typewritten document by the pollster Stanley Greenberg with the title “Kids as Politics.” Mr. Greenberg, who has shown the sharpest understanding of traditionally Democratic voters drawn to the appeal of Ronald Reagan then or Donald Trump today, argued that a political agenda centered on children could not only improve kids’ lives but also open the door to a broader liberalism and to Democrats more generally; kid-centered politics would help Americans “rediscover government.”

Politics centered on children went beyond a few federal programs. “When candidates talk about kids,” Mr. Greenberg wrote, “they are talking about the fundamental economic and social terrain on which Democrats must run.”

Mr. Greenberg’s memo, now more than 30 years old, is strikingly relevant to the current moment. The practice of separating children from their parents at the border galvanized a level of outrage, including among prominent Republicans, that exceeds even the protests spurred by Mr. Trump’s travel ban early in his term. As part of Mr. Trump’s move to chip away at the enormous federal deficit by cutting money already allocated by Congress — the “rescissions” battle — he has proposed slashing support for the Children’s Health Insurance Program, one of the most consistently popular federal programs since its creation in 1997. 

Whether Democrats choose the path or not, children are likely to be at the center of political fights in 2018 and beyond.