Dear Mr. President Elect,
As the son of a single, working class mother, I'm sure you are familiar with many of the policies currently in place that disadvantage such women and their families. Because two thirds of all mothers work outside of the home and 67% of those women have full-time jobs ( The Second Shift), I think a new department, the Department of Family Resources, should be created.
With so many women working outside of the home, in single and two parent households, it is imperative that parents have better access to affordable childcare. Children, often referred to as our greatest national resource, need proper child care and the best way to ensure that each and every child gets it is for the government to provide it. By providing government subsidized childcare for everyone, not just working class families, it ensures that the childcare system will be appropriately funded. This is not Head Start, which is a good program but it is not funded properly or available to everyone. Also, such programs will create many jobs and every child will be given the opportunity for pre-K care and education.
Also, you've got a good start on health care. Be assuring that everyone be ensured you taking a monumental first step. However, your proposal does not ensure that everyone will actually have heath care, just that they are required by law to get it. Many people below the poverty line, some of which who have never had access to health care, still may not seek it under your plan and may receive penalization. What the working class, and everyone else, need is universal health care. Bring in Hillary. Her proposal for universal health care during the primary campaign was a little more comprehensive than your own, ensuring that everyone not only is required to have health care but actually gets it.
There are many more things you can do to help families situationed below the poverty line, but the first step is to make them the focus. Don't let the plight of these people be ignored until after they have “failed� as parents or citizens. Issues that affect working class families are increasingly affecting members of the middle class due to our current economic downturn. We need to provide these resources to all families. Only then will the stigma surrounding social programs that benefit the “lazy� and the “ignorant� disappear. Thank you, Anna Wakefield