"There are just
these basic cadences of life that I think are really powerful and valuable when you have kids in your life," Vance said in November 2020. "And the fact that so many people, especially in America's leadership class, just don't have that in their lives."
Source: CNN K-File on 2024 Veepstakes
, Jul 30, 2024
Fatherhood transforms men from "driftless" to "grounded"
In a 2019 speech, Vance articulated his belief in the positive impact that children have on society and individual lives. He explained that many of his views on children and society stem from observing how becoming a father can transform young men he
knew to becoming "grounded" members of society."I care about declining fertility because I've seen the role of fatherhood, the positive role that it can play in the lives of my friends and in my community," he said. "I've seen young men who were
relatively driftless but became rooted and grounded when they had children."
"I've seen people who become more attached to their communities, to their families, to their country because they have children," he added. "And in my own life, I felt the
demons that come from a traumatic childhood melt away in the laughter and the love of my own son. So, I would say that we should care about declining fertility, not just because it's bad for our economy, but because we think babies are good."
Source: CNN K-File on 2024 Veepstakes
, Jul 30, 2024
2021: Go to war against the anti-child ideology
In an interview with The Federalist in May 2021, Vance was asked what he thinks conservatives can do to encourage Americans to have more kids. He suggested cultural messaging is key. "I think we have to go to war against the anti-child ideology that
exists in our country," said Vance.Though he generally didn't specify the gender of the childless people he was criticizing, the context of his remarks made it seem he was primarily speaking to women. Citing a conversation that had recently unfolded
on Twitter, Vance described a "ridiculous effort by millennial feminist writers" to talk about why there are good reasons not to have children and how some of them were glad they didn't have kids and even to encourage "people who had had children to talk
about why they regretted having children."
Vance went on to say that people who have had children "have actually built something more meaningful with their lives," and that is why "we have to go to war against that ideology and the people behind it."
Source: Huffington Post on 2024 Veepstakes
, Jul 30, 2024
I'll stop saying "groomers" when they stop sexualizing kids
Vance has also echoed false tropes increasingly used by conservatives to describe LGBTQ people and those who support them as "groomers": "I'll stop calling people 'groomers' when they stop freaking out about bills that prevent the sexualization of my
children," Vance said on social media in April 2022. GLAAD wrote in its post about Vance's record: "There is no evidence that discussing LGBTQ people 'sexualizes' anyone. Experts say false rhetoric about grooming diminishes understanding about actual
abuse."
Vance also spoke about bills that would censor discussions of LGBTQ issues on Fox News' "Tucker Carlson Tonight" in April 2022, arguing that teachers were also hiding their efforts to teach children about sexual orientation or gender
identity. "So, one of the things we're learning, Tucker, is that this is being forced by some of these really radical teachers, and they're hiding it from the parents," he said. "'That's maybe the most pernicious part."
Source: NBC News on 2024 Veepstakes
, Jul 16, 2024
Oppose Respect for Marriage Act: no same-sex marriage
During his Senate campaign in July 2022, Vance told Mission America, a right-wing Christian organization based in Ohio, that he would oppose the Respect for Marriage Act, a bill to ensure federal marriage
protections for same-sex and interracial marriages. Congress passed the legislation in fall 2022, and President Joe Biden signed it in December, before Vance was sworn in in January 2023.
Source: NBC News on 2024 Veepstakes
, Jul 16, 2024
Get rid of marriage penalty; make it easier to raise family
Candidate Profile Questionnaire: ECONOMY: - Q: What changes, if any, should be made to the tax code?
A: We need to get rid of the marriage penalty. We need to make it easier for married men and women to have children, own a home and raise a
family. - Q: Redistribution of income is needed to lessen the gap between the wealthy and working classes?
A: Strongly Disagree. - Q: The government should cut spending in order to reduce the national debt?
A: Strongly Agree
Source: AFA iVoterGuide on 2022 Ohio Senate
, Nov 1, 2022
Don't be too quick to leave a marriage to violent spouse
Vance suggested in comments captured on video that parents struggling in violent or abusive marriages shouldn't rush to get divorced. Vance's comments were recorded last September during an event at a California high school. The senatorial candidate's
own parents divorced when he was younger, with his grandparents soon becoming his and his sister's primary caretakers, according to his autobiographical book, "Hillbilly Elegy."In the recorded video, Vance suggested that the "sexual revolution"
was to blame for people being too quick to leave their marriages. He further stated that a person shouldn't necessarily seek a divorce due to a violent spouse, and said that the
victim of the violence should try to make things work to ensure their child's happiness and well-being in the long term. His comments contradict what experts say is best for adults and children in those situations.
Source: Truthout.org on 2022 Ohio Senate race
, Jul 25, 2022
Divorce might be better for mom & dad, but not for the kids
[On ending an unhappy marriage]: "This is one of the great tricks that I think the sexual revolution pulled on the American populace," Vance said in the video [recorded in California last September], "which is the idea that like, 'well, OK, these
marriages were fundamentally, you know, they were maybe even violent, but certainly they were unhappy. And so getting rid of them and making it easier for people to shift spouses like they change their underwear, that's going to make people happier in
the long term.'" Vance rejected that premise."Maybe it worked out for the moms and dads, though I'm skeptical. But it really didn't work out for the kids of those marriages," he claimed. "And that's what I think all of us should be honest about, is
we've run this experiment in real time. And what we have is a lot of very, very real family dysfunction that's making our kids unhappy."
Decades of research back up say that "staying together for the kids" is not always the best option for couples.
Source: Truthout.org on 2022 Ohio Senate race
, Jul 25, 2022
Reinvigorate American families; tax code penalizes marriage
Many of our families are broken. I know what it's like to grow up without a father in the home, and the problems that can create for a lifetime. We need to reinvigorate the American family, make it easier to support a family
on a single middle-class wage, and encourage fathers to step up in families across our country. Currently our tax code penalizes marriage and family, we should turn that on its head and reward marriage and family.
Source: 2021 OH Senate campaign website JDVance.com
, Oct 3, 2021
Universal daycare is class war against normal people
Vance is doing everything he can to curry favor with the man he once opposed. He's attacked Biden's plan for universal daycare as "class war against normal people" and blamed the "childless left" for America's ills. He has also, ironically, taken aim at
Big Tech. In an April tweet, he suggested that "establishment" Republicans who side with the industry should issue a disclaimer: "Big Tech pays my salary." It was a strange position, given Vance's longtime support from [Big Tech billionaires].
Source: Business Insider magazine on 2024 Veepstakes
, Aug 29, 2021
Expanded childcare favors affluent over working class
Vance uses his Twitter feed to position himself as a leading voice in the culture wars while promoting the institutional distrust nurtured by the former president and his allies. Vance argued that
President Joe Biden's push for expanded childcare favored "the lifestyle preferences of the affluent over the preferences of the middle and working class."
Source: NBC News on 2022 Ohio Senate race
, Jul 1, 2021
Working moms support families by doing "women's work"
For many [impoverished families], part-time work is all they have access to, because the [industrial companies in Appalachia and] the world are going out of business and their skill sets don't fit well in the modern economy. In this, as in so much else,
the Scots-Irish migrants resemble their kin back in the holler.In an HBO documentary about eastern Kentucky hill people, the patriarch of a large Appalachian family introduces himself by drawing strict lines between work acceptable for men and work
acceptable for women. While it's obvious what he considers "women's work," it's not at all clear what work, if any, is acceptable for him. Apparently not paid employment, since the man has never worked a paying job in his life. Ultimately, the verdict
of his own son is damning; "Daddy says he's worked in his life. Why not be straight about it. Pa? Daddy was an alcoholic. He would stay drunk, he didn't bring food home. Mommy supported her young'uns. If it hadn't been for Mommy, we'd have been dead."
Source: Hillbilly Elegy, by Sen. JD Vance, p. 58
, May 25, 2017
Citing "culture" is a copout; we need policy interventions
It's so easy for conservatives to use "culture" as an ending point in a discussion--an excuse to rationalize their worldview and then move on--rather than a starting point. I try to do precisely the opposite in Hillbilly Elegy. This book should start
conversations, and it is successful, it will. Let's just think about what culture really means, to borrow an example from my life. One of the things I mention in the book is that domestic strife and family violence are cultural traits--they're just
there, and everyone experiences them in one form or another. But to speak "culture" and then move on is a total copout, and there are public policy solutions to draw from experiences like this: how could my school have better prepared me for domestic
life? how could child welfare services have [avoided] threatening me--as they did--with the promise of foster care? These are tough problems, but they're not totally immune to policy interventions. Neither are they entirely addressable by government.
Source: American Conservative Q&A with author of "Hillbilly Elegy"
, Jul 22, 2016
We learn how to be a great spouse despite domestic strife
I learned domestic strife from the moment I was born, from more than 15 stepdads and boyfriends I encountered, to the domestic violence case that nearly tore my family apart (I was the primary victim). So predictably, by the time I got married, I wasn't
a great spouse. I had to learn, with the help of my aunt and sister (both of whom had successful marriages), but especially with the help of my wife, how not to turn every small disagreement into a shouting match or a public scene. Too many
conservatives look at that situation, say "that's a cultural problem, nothing we can do," and then move on. They're right that it's a cultural problem: I learned domestic strife from my mother, & she learned it from her parents.That's just one small
example, obviously, and there are many more in the book. But I think this unwillingness to deal with tough issues--or worse, to pretend they'll all go away if we can hit 4 percent growth targets--is a significant failure of modern conservative politics.
Source: American Conservative Q&A with author of "Hillbilly Elegy"
, Jul 22, 2016
Page last updated: Sep 16, 2024; copyright 1999-2022 Jesse Gordon and OnTheIssues.org
