Parenting and politics: giving new shape to 'family values.'

Christian Century, July 29, 1998 by Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen

Finally, West and Hewlett don't show us how the NPA and the AARP--the parenting and the "geezer" lobby--can avoid becoming adversaries in a world of finite resources. They say that parents of young children should not resent the gains made by those over 60, but should simply insist that their own interests be equally valued. They seem to be buying into special-interest polities by repeatedly pointing out that the squeakiest wheel gets the most grease. Given their concern for "nonmarket values," surely it would be better to invite groups like the AARP to help envision a society in which all can flourish and to seek that society through emphasis on compromise and common interests (after all, most of those AARP folks are grandparents!) rather than focus on competition for tax favors and transfer payments.

Nevertheless, The War Against Parents remains a long-overdue call for liberals to embrace a more communitarian mind-set and for conservatives to support the structural reforms needed to make "family values" work. West and Hewlett are likely to be criticized from the left and right for failing to push one line unequivocally. That should not discourage them or their readers: it's precisely such third ways that the people of God are often called to follow.

Mary Stewart Van Leeuwen is a professor of psychology and head of the Center for Christian Women in Leadership at Eastern College in St. Davids, Pennsylvania.