Another Thought After Book Club

   "Participation in two book clubs keeps me reading.  One book club is in our old neighborhood and we read a wide variety of books.  The other book club focuses on history. Orphan Train, a novel by Christina Baker Kline was chosen by the neighborhood group but would also fit as history.
    "Between 1854 and 1929, so-called orphan trains transported more than two hundred thousand orphaned, abandoned, and homeless children...many of whom, like the character in this book, were first generation Irish Catholic immigrants...from the coastal cities of the eastern United States to the Midwest for "adoption"  which often turned out to be indentured servitude."  afterword p. 8
   The book is well written bringing  to light an important phase of  American life.  However, while it did reveal the difficulties many "orphans" suffered, in my opinion, it still went a bit light on how barbaric this experience could be.  Yet, I think it well worth reading."

   I wrote the above on a recent post.  Yesterday our book club had a good discussion of the book but after I got home theses thoughts occurred to me,

  We were all appalled at the reality of hundreds of thousands of children being treated in this manner. The book well illustrates the trauma and terrible situations in which many of the orphans were placed. The behavior of the workers who handled the children was roundly condemned.
   But, I think, there was one significant aspect of that situation that should have been named that we missed.  During those years the role of government was much smaller.  Today such a thing as an orphan train would be unthinkable, largely because of the role government plays in the welfare of children.
   In our current political climate there is much rhetoric about regulation and about the evils of big government.  Perhaps, but much of what government does is helpful.  As a dweller of a condo in the downtown of a city I am happy for regulations, e.g., you must pick up your dog poop,, that my brother living in the country would find intrusive and burdensome.  Government regulation of the welfare of children is now assumed and when government fails it is fodder for investigative reporting.  We should think carefully about what is good about government and that should also inform our attitude toward taxes...but that's a subject for a later blog.