Photo: U.S. Vice President JD Vance, along with his wife Usha Vance and their three children – Ewan, Vivek and Mirabel- visited the Taj Mahal in India last Wednesday.
U.S. Vice President JD Vance visited India last week with his wife Usha and their three kids, and were photographed at the Taj Mahal, which is a place where people like to be photographed.
From what I can tell, the trip to India, by the Vice President and his wife, went much better than their trip to Greenland.
Here in Pagosa Springs, the Board of County Commissioners have publicly stated that their proposed new County administration building will not be “the Taj Mahal”. Which is unfortunate, considering the popularity of the original Taj Mahal as a tourist destination.
Once our commissioners make up their minds, however, good luck trying to change them.
But the subject today is not the commissioners, or the Taj Mahal, or the Vance parents. It’s the Vance children… and children in general.
If you look closely at the photo of the Vance family, you will notice that the parents have big smiles, but the kids are clearly annoyed about having left their Nintendos back at the hotel. That’s the thing about kids. Here they are, posing in front of one of the seven wonders of the world, and having their picture taken by prominent Indian press photographers, and what kind of look do they give? Irritation.
It would appear that the current Trump administration would like American parents to produce more children.
When asked by ABC News about the proposals the administration has been fielding, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said President Trump is “proudly implementing policies to uplift American families.”
At the March for Life last January, Vice President Vance told the crowd he wants “more babies in the United States of America,” and called on the government to do its part to promote larger families.
“I want more happy children in our country, and I want beautiful young men and women who are eager to welcome them into the world and eager to raise them. And it is the task of our government to make it easier for young moms and dads to afford to have kids, to bring them into the world and to welcome them as the blessings that we know they are,” Vance said.
Maybe he didn’t notice that his own ‘happy’ children can’t even pose for a picture without giving the photographer dirty looks.
And it’s not just the Vice President and the Press Secretary talking about kids and more kids. Simone and Malcolm Collins, founders of Pronatalist.org, and their pronatalist associates, have been advocating federal policies to ultimately reverse declining birth and marriage rates in the U.S. Ms. Collins told ABC News that she and her husband have submitted several draft executive orders to the White House Domestic Policy Council, including the creation of a “National Medal of Motherhood” to mothers with six or more children.
The Collinses have four children as of 2024, but they’ve stated that they plan to have seven to thirteen children total, which would then qualify Ms. Collins for a national medal. Assuming they can avoid getting divorced.
They haven’t mentioned a “National Medal of Fatherhood”, however.
Maybe “Fatherhood” is too easy?
A few famous American fathers and their acknowledged number of children (with various wives and partners):
Rapper and actor DMX (Earl Simmons): 17 kids
Actor Marlon Brando: 11 kids
Boxer Evander Holyfield: 11 kids
Entrepreneur Elon Musk: 11 kids
Comedian Eddie Murphy: 10 kids
Quarterback Phillip Rivers: 10 kids
Actor Mel Gibson: 10 kids
Actor Clint Eastwood: 9 kids
Speaking as the father of three kids, I don’t come close to appearing on the above list. It does, however, put me neck-and-neck with Vice President Vance.
I’m still trailing the President, who has five (acknowledged) children. But I suspect both he and I have already hit our limit. Nor do we want, or deserve, a national medal. (Actually, the President might want a medal, but he doesn’t deserve one.)
During the 2024 election campaign, Vice President Vance argued that the child tax credit should be expanded, stating that he would love to see it at $5,000 per dependent child. That’s an interesting proposal, but maybe we should qualify the tax credit? Like, if you have ‘happy children’, you would get more money, and less money for ‘unhappy children’. Lord knows, we don’t need more ‘unhappy children’, growing up to be ‘unhappy adults.’
According to preliminary numbers, Colorado delivered 2% more babies in 2024 than in 2019, before the COVID crisis. So I guess we’re doing our part, even if I personally am not. But the numbers don’t reflect how many of the Colorado babies are ‘happy’.
Some people are skeptical of the policies being pushed by Pronatalist.org and similar groups. MomsRising CEO Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, whose organization advocates on behalf of more than a million mothers and families, said the proposed programs are “coercive, counterproductive recipes for failure.”
“There’s no question that families need policies that make it possible for moms and parents to care for their kids, go to work and contribute to their communities,” she wrote in a press release. “This president has had endless opportunities to support those tried-and-true, proven policies that lift families and our economy, but his administrations have utterly failed to do so.”
That’s pretty harsh, to use a phrase like “utterly failed”… when the Vice President himself has said that he’d love to see a $5,000 child tax credit, which I guess would mean $15,000 in credits to the Vice President and his wife, annually. You can do a lot with $15,000, I hear.
Although… would it make his children happier?
Underrated writer Louis Cannon grew up in the vast American West, although his ex-wife, given the slightest opportunity, will deny that he ever grew up at all. You can read more stories on his Substack account.