Someone has suggested that what encourages inequality is not money itself but what money can buy.

They weren’t thinking of material possessions—classy houses or cars or clothes. They meant the non-material possessions—a good education, time to parent one’s children, health care.

My mother worked as an elementary school secretary, home for my brother and me in the afternoons. My father sold insurance and made an adequate income but was more interested in family and community.

Our neighborhood was fairly diverse, including both working and middle classes. The high level of community spirit infused the schools. Motivated teachers generally were caring and academically qualified to start us on the road to learning.

My parents also raised my brother and me with a sense of right and wrong, within their own loving relationship. They provided us a college education, less expensive than today. Our health needs were within my parents’ modest income to provide: regular checkups, medicine if we were ill.

Shouldn’t all parents be able to make a decent living with time to raise their children? And shouldn’t all our children have access to quality education and adequate healthcare? Should we be against public money being spent to insure these blessings to all our children?

It’s in our own interests to do so. These gifts enable children to give back to society when they reach adulthood, not simply struggle to survive or make choices harmful to them and those around them.