Rodent Regatta

During the early 1990’s I worked with and got to know Craig Cantoni. One of the savviest human resource professionals I know, Cantoni’s ability to think through contemporary socio-political issues and skewer those based solely on political correctness is honed to a fine edge.

I’ve been remiss in not posting more of his work here since switching from Radio to Movable Type. Be assured that error starts getting corrected with this entry.

If you love the liberal media elite, if you think one or the other of our current political parties is the solution to all problems or if you prefer soft-headed, mushy thinking, don’t read any further.

Rewriting a story by the media moo-cow herd

By Craig J. Cantoni (For Internet publication)

On June 11, 2003, while sitting in the St. Louis airport, I read a front-page article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch about how Missouri ranks low in the well-being of children. Several hours later, while sitting in my home in Scottsdale, Arizona, I read a front-page article in the Arizona Republic about how Arizona ranks low in the well-being of children. Both articles followed the same shopworn, unoriginal journalism formula and told only half the story.

No doubt, similar articles appeared that day in newspapers across the land as the great establishment media herd mooed in unison and published data from a press release without question or independent research.

The articles were based on a report titled ”Kids Count,” which was issued by the Annie E. Casey Foundation. The Foundation was started by a cofounder of United Parcel Service and has the noble mission of improving the lives of disadvantaged children.

The report ranks states on ten indicators of child well-being, including such variables as the infant mortality rate, the teen birth rate, poverty, and the school dropout rate.

The Arizona Republic article was given the front-page headline, ”State ranks 45th in well-being of children.” The article included two tables of statistics. It then used 27 column-inches to tell a human interest story about a local pregnant teen, to make the unsubstantiated claim that state funding for social programs affects the state’s rankings, and to quote the head of the Children’s Action Alliance, which is a left-leaning organization that receives grants from the Annie E. Casey Foundation and believes in income redistribution.

That was it. The article did not question the report’s methodology and conclusions. Nor did it quote any organization that might have a counter opinion.

How could the article have been written if the Arizona Republic had wanted to tell the other half of the story? An example follows.

Arizona can do little to improve child well-being
By Craig J. Cantoni

According to a report released today by the Annie E. Casey Foundation, Arizona ranks 45th nationally in the well-being of children. The low ranking is due to factors outside the control of state government and is unrelated to state social spending.

Among other statistics, the report says that 38 percent of Arizona families are headed by a single parent. The report did not give the state’s percentage of out-of-wedlock births, but the report’s publisher, the Annie E. Casey Foundation, has published the percentage in other studies.

Out-of-wedlock births have increased in the state from 32.7 percent of all births in 1990 to 39.3 percent in 2000. Nationally, out-of-wedlock births have increased from 28 percent in 1990 to 33.2 percent in 2000.

This continues an upward trend that began in the mid-1960s, when out-of-wedlock births were one-fifth the level of today. The Family Research Council, a family advocacy group, blames the increase on declining morals, on the 1964 Great Society Program and on the 1970 Title X Program, which funded family planning and birth control but resulted in dire, unintended social consequences.

Out-of-wedlock births and single-parent families, especially those headed by women, are considered by the Family Research Council and other family advocacy organizations to be the two primary causes of poverty, crime, school dropouts and other social problems.

For example, The National Center for Public Policy Research says that young children living with unmarried mothers are ten times more likely to be in poverty. It also says that the value of fathers can be seen in the fact that children living with fathers are twice as likely to stay in school.

Out-of-wedlock births and single-parent families are highest among Hispanics, Blacks and Native Americans. While Arizona has a relatively small Black population, Hispanics make up one-fourth of the state’s population, due to the state sharing a border with Mexico. And the state has nearly a quarter-million Native Americans, the highest number of any state in the nation.

To a large extent, Arizona’s low ranking in child well-being and its corresponding high ranking in out-of-wedlock births and single-parent families are due to federal immigration policies and to the horrible social conditions on tribal lands caused by federal welfare dependency and the ineptitude of the Bureau of Indian Affairs. The rankings also are due to the state being a magnet for people who want to escape bad personal situations in frost-belt states and who mistakenly believe that a change in climate will improve their lives.

The Annie E. Casey Foundation report did not compare state-by-state rankings in social spending with rankings in child well-being. But a separate analysis shows little correlation between the two variables. For instance, although New York ranks near the top in social spending, it only ranks 27th in child well-being. Conversely, Iowa ranks low in social spending but ranks 5th in child well-being.

”Arizona could double its spending on social welfare and not make a dent in the problem,” said Ira Goldberg, a nationally recognized expert in sociology and economics. ”It’s an issue of unfavorable demographics and personal irresponsibility.”
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Mr. Cantoni is an author, columnist and consultant. He can be reached at Craig Cantoni