Pro-Child Politics: Why Every Cultural, Economic, and National Issue Is a Matter of Justice for Children

by Katy Faust

Pro-Child Politics challenges the selfish quo by centering children in all cultural and political conversations.

In Pro-Child Politics, Katy Faust has mobilized a collection of experts who apply her children-before-adults approach to their areas of expertise. From porn to debt, foreign policy to religious liberty, each chapter explains how a child-first approach isn’t just nice—it’s a necessity. Contributors explain how the needs of children are being ignored and propose practical, bold reforms that will ensure the next generation will not only survive, but thrive.

Life - Dr. Abby Johnson (And Then There Were None, ProLove Ministries)
Masculinity - Ken Harrison (Waterstone/Promise Keepers)
Femininity - Peachy Keenan (Domestic Extremist)
Family - Katy Faust (Them Before Us)
Race - Delano Squires (The Heritage Foundation)
Gender Ideology - Chris Elston (Billboard Chris)
Porn - Jon Schweppe (American Principles Project)
The Economy- Christopher Bedford (The Blaze)
Taxes - Grover Norquist (Americans for Tax Reform)
Debt - Phil Kerpen (American Commitment)
Energy- The Honorable Neil Chatterjee
ESG/DEI - Justin Danhof (Strive)
Religious Liberty - Ashley McGuire (The Catholic Association)
Education - Tiffany Justice (Moms for Liberty)
Digital Technology - Maria Baer (The Colson Center for Christian Worldview)
Environment - Chris Barnard (American Conservation Coalition)
National Security- Dan Caldwell (Defense Priorities)
Policing- Ari Hoffman (The Post Millennial and Talk Radio 570 KVI)
Border Security/Immigration - Lora Ries (The Heritage Foundation)

What does pro-child politics require? That every adult prioritizes the rights and well-being of children above their own self-interest. Because the only alternative is for children to sacrifice for adults. And that is a world characterized not only by damaged children, but widespread injustice.

No other book on your shelf spans the topics covered in this collection. The diverse subjects addressed in these pages share one when we believe lies, children are victimized. Pro-Child Politics strips away the thin veneer of adult talking points to spotlight the most overlooked our children.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics

328 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 24, 2024

Reviews

[Cacti Whir · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is just more junk from someone who has spent her entire adult life working as an anti-LGBT activist. For this book, Faust basically copied Robert Oscar Lopez's "Jephthah's Daughters" by farming out each chapter to a different far right conservative and/or anti-LGBT author. Faust of course does the "Family" chapter despite not being any sort of expert on family structures. It should be noted that Faust had previously contributed to Lopez's "Jephthah's Daughters", a book basically written by her fellow members of the sham International Children's Rights Institute (ICRI), a fake "children's rights" group that was set up to harass and demean gay parents and their children. ICRI broke up after Faust illegally lobbied against gay marriage and got banned.

With many of Faust's fellow ICRI members having disappeared due to money not coming in anymore from Heritage and other anti-gay groups, she's enlisted a new group of bigots and conservative nutballs. Notable names Faust has tapped for this book are "Billboard Chris" (a grown man who travels around in a sandwich billboard and is obsessed with young trans people and has been accused of harassing women) and Abby Johnson (the conservative Christian anti-abortion activist who apparently hasn't gotten the memo that gluttony is a sin.). There is also Tiffany Justice of Moms for Threesomes fame.

This book is a bunch of garbage. The end.

[Granne52 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Compelling, convicting, information-packed - a must-read for anyone who cares about the welfare of children.

[Jonalyn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Matthew 18:6
“If anyone causes one of these little ones—those who believe in me—to stumble, it would be better for them to have a large millstone hung around their neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea.”

Fantastic book which shows exactly how we should be viewing all political topics and considering the effects on children.

[Natalie Lathrop · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very helpful and informative. I very much appreciated the chapters on Environmental Issues and Policies since I feel as though I lack knowledge in that arena.

I think the thing I appreciated the most about this book is the practical applications and solutions that ea ch of the authors propose at the end of each chapter. Rather than just simply saying: “uh-oh, problem! Problem! Problem!!!” they propose practical solutions to real-life problems that affect all of us.

[Anna Clapp · Rating 5 out of 5]

"the pro-child position is costly, but it is worth it. Being truly pro-child means centering children in every decision we make. Of all groups of people, children are the most vulnerable, the least powerful, and the most affected by our selfishness."

educational & enlightening!!! adults need to do the hard things- not the children. opened my eyes to so many things that negatively affect children- things that you would normally just consider the adult consequences

[Erika]

In the Acknowledgements, the editor confesses that it took a total of 6 months from contract to copy to throw this book together, and boy does it show. When I first heard about Katy's message, I was immediately interested. There had been some recent ideas floating around in the news over the years - I'm thinking mainly of surrogacy, conception via donor sperm/eggs etc. - that struck me as deeply unfair to children, so when I heard about a movement to put "them before us" I wanted to check it out. I was hoping that by reading this book I'd be introduced to a really solid, in-depth philosophy regarding children's rights that I could then use to think for myself regarding political and social issues in the future.

Instead, we get 19 chapters purporting to cover "every" issue from a pro-child perspective, but from the very start, these are all issues that have been primarily decided by what's been a hot topic over the last few US election cycles. So much for children first! This is the nightly news talking points first instead.

Each chapter follows the same roughly the same format - a brief introduction to the topic, a handful of "lies" about the subject with an explanation of how they harm kids, and a handful of "truths" to refute those "lies" with an explanation of how the truths save kids. Due to the sheer breadth of what these authors are trying to cover and the short, digestible chapters they were asked to squeeze the topic into, what results is the most surface-level encounter with each subject. I often found myself saying, "but wait, how the heck did you draw that conclusion?" or "wait a minute, there's WAY more to the story here, context that fundamentally calls into question your framing of the issue" or even "that's just not true". That's because in reality this is not a book about children's rights at all but rather a book about how to be conservative, with "pro-child" ideas shoehorned in as the justification.

Mind you, there's nothing wrong with being a conservative, but there is something wrong with saying you are going to walk me through what a pro-child politic would look like, only to spend the book griping about what you don't like about the ill-defined "Left". Again, I'm not sure how to phrase this so it comes across right. There is nothing wrong with the authors being conservative. It very well could be that many conservative political positions really do benefit children the best. I'm not against that being the way things shake out. In fact, for many issues I already think that's true and wouldn't need to be convinced (again, see the surrogacy issue, which is championed by the left and is something I hate). What I'm trying to convey is that the overall tone of the book was "conservative first, pro-child second". If it had been "pro-child first, conservative ideology second" I think I would have received the book a lot better. Instead, it came across as a bunch of conservative ideologues getting really mad at leftist ideologues. They never really overcame their political hangups to actually discuss children first.

Overall, I don't recommend this book. It serves mainly as an echo-chamber for conservatives frustrated with those across the aisle to be told that actually, they were right about everything and have the moral high ground after all. Basically, the same thing they accuse the left of doing (they aren't wrong about that either, they just aren't doing anything different themselves). I will continue my search for a book that actually explores children's rights, and not just the political ecosystem of the United States.

[Kelsi Berry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book packed a lot of in depth information in less than 300 pages! I think there’s 19 topics covered overall, it was compelling, super informative and also honestly…kind of terrifying. It feels like our country is in some really precarious positions in a lot of different areas, so this is one of those don’t read if you don’t wanna know books. But! If you truly want a comprehensive overview of ways to positively influence the America we are leaving our children through political strategies, this is a great start.

[Vikki Jones · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent roadmap on how to put children first. Highly recommend.