Parental neglect is a real problem, I have no doubt.
However.
13 million hungry children are 13 million hungry children. A government can't just blame their parents and avoid any responsibility; they still gotta feed them.
You don't get to just ignore the problem by pointing at all the food wasted in America either - the 13 million kids are still hungry.
Those children won't learn properly, they won't feel safe, they'll have lifelong problems. We'll all have problems because of their problems.
We'll end up paying for it as a society, in 13 million ways; far more than it would cost to just _feed them_.
And the point - if you remember - is the inequality of it all. There are neglectful wealthy parents, just as there are neglectful poor parents - but only the poor kids are going to school hungry. In a country of such incredible wealth!
If we spent as much money feeding the hungry as we did on interest alone for the "war on terror", we'd have the whole planet fed 7 times over. The money is there - but it's dangerously unequally distributed.
However.
13 million hungry children are 13 million hungry children. A government can't just blame their parents and avoid any responsibility; they still gotta feed them.
You don't get to just ignore the problem by pointing at all the food wasted in America either - the 13 million kids are still hungry.
Those children won't learn properly, they won't feel safe, they'll have lifelong problems. We'll all have problems because of their problems.
We'll end up paying for it as a society, in 13 million ways; far more than it would cost to just _feed them_.
And the point - if you remember - is the inequality of it all. There are neglectful wealthy parents, just as there are neglectful poor parents - but only the poor kids are going to school hungry. In a country of such incredible wealth!
If we spent as much money feeding the hungry as we did on interest alone for the "war on terror", we'd have the whole planet fed 7 times over. The money is there - but it's dangerously unequally distributed.