When I talk about our societal obligation to help kids suffering in poor urban and poor rural communities, many conservatives ask me the same question:

Why does government have to get involved?

This question perplexes me because government is already involved in the lives of many of these children; just later on. Government is involved in putting them in prison and housing them in prison. Which you know means our taxes pay to put them in prison and house them in prison. I would rather pay for more and better schools and after school programs than more juvenile delinquency camps, jails and prisons.

If we demanded it, our government would have to re-focus its attention, budgets and appropriations toward efforts that would demonstrate that we as a nation value all of our children and that we fully understand that even the most neglected children embody the future of this American democracy.

Why do you think we are quicker to approve spending for prisons than we are for education?