It’s worth exploring why this line that dems are “anti-family” seems believable for so many people even as Republicans are doing shit like—literally—bringing back child labor. Vance has an interesting slip of the tongue here that sheds some light on what’s going on. Long 🧵

When Bash hits Vance for calling Harris a “childless cat lady” even though she has step-children, he says “I criticized Kamala Harris for being part of A SET OF IDEAS…that is anti-family.” He’s using Harris as a vehicle for an *idea*: standing in for a type of dem we all know 2/

Democratic policies are not anti-family. They’re light years better for families than GOP policies. However, a lot — not a majority, but a lot — of college educated dems are anti-child and view having a family as a threat to their all-important “freedom” to do what they want. 3/

Consider how many liberals of the family-having age view children in bars, restaurants, coffee shops, or public spaces as a gross imposition that detracts from their “freedom” to enjoy their espresso martinis. Many think of kids as a burden rather than the future of society. 4/

If you’re in your 20s or 30s in a coastal city and your friends and co-workers are college-educated liberals, you no doubt know a ton of people who say they are not having kids because they want to have the freedom to “travel” or have fun. They don’t want to be “tied down.” 5/

The way many college educated liberals in big cities talk about kids is narcissistic, odd, and often very offensive. The assumption is that fun and personal freedom—“freedom” conceived of as the ability to have fun—is the highest good. Any sacrifice of that is ipso facto bad. 6/

Again, ultimately this isn’t many or only democrats! And people don’t have kids for all kinds of personal reasons! No one is demanding you have kids! But there IS an anti-child and anti-family attitude in some very specific liberal spaces. That rhetoric is real, not a fantasy. 7/

Academia is probably the most liberal workplace in America, and yet anti-family attitudes are prevalent. When I got married people asked me if I was going to have kids and warned me to put it off (“you have a dissertation to write”). And I’m a man! Think about what women hear. 8/

In parts of academia, children are viewed as a kind of weird hobby that distracts from writing/getting a job/tenure. Pregnant women on the market are treated terribly. Folks try to avoid admitting having kids so hiring committees don’t think they’re not invested in their work. 9/

I’ve known plenty of female academics on the job market who won’t wear their wedding ring to interviews because they’re worried that people will assume that they have children or are planning to have children, and might soon need maternity leave or be “distracted” from work. 10/

It is absolutely not some myth to say a certain kind of hyper-educated young-ish progressive has views that are fairly described as anti-family: that go beyond “I personally don’t want to have children,” and that frame kids as an active drag on the good life and good work. 11/

When Vance says Democrats are “anti-family”—and when he admits he’s using Harris to invoke a “set of ideas”—it’s not about policy. He’s conjuring the image of the college-educated liberal 30-something we all know who talks loudly about not wanting kids so they can “travel.” 12/

The fact remains that GOP policies are terrible for children. Republicans are the anti-family party. They want to force women to have children while gutting the very safety nets that make having children workable. But this rhetoric, that dems are “anti-family,” has purchase. 13/

A small but vocal quadrant of the professional class within the democratic base is in the grip of a deeply narcissistic, hedonistic, anti-child ideology that sees kids—theirs and other people’s—as a drain on the good life and a threat to their good times. It’s off-putting. 14/

Republicans are the “force you to have kids” party. That’s grotesque. But being anti-kid and acting like children (a vulnerable population mind you) are a net negative that takes away from living a full life is not a progressive stance. It’s weird, offensive, and anti-social. 15/

Democrats have good policies for parents, families and kids, but pushing back on the “dems are anti-family” attack requires firmly saying that kids are great, we need more people to have more of them and we need policies that make that easier. Sermon over. Now you can yell at me.

I’ll also add @a_n_a_berg and @rachelcwiseman’s new book “What Are Children For?” is a great read that explores the complexities of progressive attitudes toward children in upper-middle class spaces. We had them on the @ttsgpod. But please don’t yell at them for my opinions!

@a_n_a_berg @rachelcwiseman @ttsgpod And @jaycaspiankang’s review of the book/essay about libs and kids is also rad.