Marco Rubio Can’t Hide What He Thinks The Most Important Job Is

Sen. Marco Rubio wanted to tell America that family is the most important institution in the country, but he let it slip that he might hold the White House in slightly higher esteem. "The most important job a person can have is a president," Rubio said, before quickly correcting himself to say, "parent." Strong families and communities that nurture children do have better educational and economic outcomes. And while it's a funny, seemingly minor moment in the middle of a long explanation of his tax code, it's also revealing. Rubio mentioned that child care can cost more than college — a real and staggering statistic that leaves many families with difficult decisions to make. He also may truly think that being a parent is the most important job in the world, but he opposes guaranteed paid parental leave and subsidized child care, and he opposes abortion in all instances. The majority of women who seek abortions are already mothers, which means the Florida senator is against a legal procedure that many women seek in order to be better parents to their sons and daughters. Decisions like how to pay for child care or what to do about an unplanned pregnancy often force one parent — the mother — to stay home rather than work, which looks an awful lot like the '50s. This part of the 20th century, the '50s, is most often pointed to by presidential candidates as America's golden age. When women were excluded from education and the workforce, and people of color were victims of violence and discrimination. Rubio hasn't explained how opposing these policies would make it easier for families of the 21st century to provide for their children.