Despite all the talk to the contrary, people generally want to help. When we see the basic elements of our society struggling, we naturally feel we can drop some trivial luxuries and donate to somebody who is trying but getting nowhere.

Young families faced with rising prices and pressure to spend money they don’t have are under a lot of stress. Neato sneakers, an SUV over a van; there are a lot of ways their funds can be drained. Child care and work outside the home can become the solution and the only focus.

An objective view of the situation can’t ignore rising prices, otherwise known as inflation. Conventionally, inflation is called “rising prices over a period of time.” Well! No more thinking required here. But… more dollars is the real story. Skyrocketing commodity and stock prices haven’t helped the purchasing power of families who seek more income.

Joe Biden’s $6 trillion in new spending is only a part of the picture. Trump was eager to hand out a couple trillion in the “pandemic emergency.” Biden claims he will bring the troops home from the “defense” industry’s $2.26 trillion cash cow in Afghanistan by September 11, only five months later than Trump’s proposed exit.

All this cash was printed or taxed and put in circulation and it dilutes the earnings of “working families.” These are the working families that we will print more money to help with $225 billion on top of the $50 billion already being spent for child care. Republicans mindlessly cry too much spending while the real problem is not the money, but the effect on our society.

In 1997 the provincial government of Quebec offered child care for $5 per day to all families, regardless of income. Twenty years later studies found that children from families who participated showed significant increases in anxiety, aggression, and hyperactivity. These problems persisted and grew as the kids aged. Boys who participated were more likely to commit crimes.

A major study conducted by the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development found that the more time infants and toddlers spent in care of non-family, the more likely they were to engage in aggressive, disobedient, or risky behavior. These findings parallel with the statistics regarding criminals and a lack of a father in the home.

Well-educated people naturally are proud of the work they do. The income advantage looks like it would enable better care. Although many kids will be just fine, statistics indicate that children from homes who farm out parenting are more likely to join the criminal and needy demographics. The equalization of society is being accomplished, not by elevating the less fortunate, but by dragging down the ones with more advantages.

All this help for Afghans and families with children are interventions in voluntary human relationships that should be based on individual situations. We attended a Constitution Day event at a local junior college where the teacher was stressing the importance of the General Welfare Clause at the beginning of the Constitution. He touted it as license to ignore all the rest of the document. He was wrong and too simplistic. If the longer term effects of breaking with constitutional principles are negative, the general welfare is not being promoted.

Does the prospect of free childcare promote parenthood for people not suited to be parents? Two wrongs do not make a right. There’s good reason why stealing is frowned upon. History has proven that stolen money, as in the war on Afghanistan and federal child care does not promote the general welfare no matter how much we want to help.