NEW YORK—Count me among the observers who had his socks knocked off by Ivanka Trump Tuesday night. She’s utterly likable and charming—and seemingly authentic. The more The Donald can have his impressive daughter on the stump, the better off he’ll be.
I haven’t bothered to check to see if any liberal outlets have penned any “think” pieces about her comments on motherhood, but I suspect they could potentially be controversial (to those who are easily offended). Actually, I think Ivanka hit on a truism about parenthood, but I’ll talk more about that in a second. In case you missed it, here’s what she had to say:
ANDERSON COOPER: Ivanka, my mom has been pressuring me to actually have kids. What’s being a mom meant to you? What has it — how has it changed you?
IVANKA TRUMP: I think it’s changed me in almost every capacity. I think it’s made me a better person, a better wife. I think I’m much more empathetic. Once you start thinking about a bigger picture outside of yourself, which — it’s easy to be very self-centered when you’re young and you’re single, and obviously it started when I got married and I became a “we.” And then having kids brings it to a whole different level. Putting them first and they become very much the center of your universe. [Emphasis mine.]
On the surface, Ivanka’s comments seem to be commonsensical and anodyne. How could having children not make one wiser?
Not so fast. A few years ago, Harvard historian Niall Ferguson got in hot water for suggesting that John Maynard Keynes’ economic philosophy wasn’t focused on future generations, because he was childless. Ferguson then juxtaposed Keynes’ worldview with Edmund Burke’s belief that civilization is a contract between the living, the dead, and those who are yet to be born.
The fact that Keynes was childless and gay almost guaranteed these politically incorrect comments would draw scrutiny. And boy did they. Ferguson was forced to issue an apology. But let’s take away the fact that Keynes was gay, and you’re still left with the controversial argument that people who have children are somehow wiser and more concerned about the long-term survival of civilization than people who don’t have children. This is a position I’m happy to defend, but one can understand how people who do not have children (regardless of their sexual orientation) might find this offensive.
Ivanka, of course, is on safer ground than Ferguson. She never overtly makes the charge that the change motherhood has made in her life should be extrapolated to others. And she doesn’t draw a connection between how this shift from self-centeredness to a focus on future generations has political consequences.
But I will go ahead and make that connection on her behalf. She’s right. When it comes to making sure the American experiment endures fifty years from now, why would people without children have the same amount of skin in the game?
Having kids also tends to connect you to your community. All of a sudden, you know your neighbors (you meet them via your kids). I suspect it makes us more socially conservative, as well. As an adult, I might be perfectly happy to live in a libertarian world that looks a lot like Las Vegas; as a dad, I’m more interested in living in Mayberry.
When parenthood is coupled with things like marriage and home ownership, other positive externalities usually follow. Getting married, buying a house, and having kids will generally make you a better citizen, and a more conservative person. This is why trends of people delaying marriage and child-rearing are so concerning for conservatives. At the macro level, it gives us fewer citizens who are making the kinds of long-term decisions that moms and dads might make. And politically, a nation of aging singles equals a nation of liberal voters.
Ivanka’s on to something.