Molly Ivins June 4

AUSTIN — Saturday in Washington was a heaven-sent day, warm with cool breezes, the bright sun dappling through the arching trees along the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial.

And there we were in all our glorious, shlumpy normalcy. I believe the politically correct word is diversity, but that always makes me think of "red and yellow, black and white" — it was the kind of day that makes one think of children's hymns. Our diversity is so much more complex than that: longhairs with pierced noses and executive types with Polo shirts, haute couture and Kmart, saris and peasant blouses, khakis and Dockers, nuns and punkers, preppies and cowboys, Locust Valley lockjaw and honey-drawl Southern accents, Mormons and hip-hoppers.

Everywhere you looked was a vignette of American life. "Mom," wailed a tiny black girl dressed in pink gingham with her hair in elaborate braids, "my pants are coming down." And so they were.

Around the picnic cloths, people both disciplined and comforted other people's children. "Jimmy Jones, I see you, and if you don't get back over there, I'm gonna tell your mama on you!"

Any child who started to cry was immediately surrounded by concerned adults. "Hush, honey, don't cry, we'll find your mama."

"What's your mama's name, darlin'?"

(Weepily) "Mama."

It takes a village ...

I ran across some Minnesotans, and with the effusiveness for which they are so noted, they allowed that the Stand for Children was: "No so bad. Sure. You bet." I'm beginning to suspect that Minnesotans, like Texans, have started to Play the Role when out of state.

For three blessed hours, there was a huge rally in our nation's capital without one word of blame. No one dissed Newt Gingrich or cussed the Republicans or Congress or the president. The speakers just asked them and us to do better. And the children sang like — well, little angels. And all around us were the reasons we have to do better: the little ones riding on their daddies' shoulders, babies snuggled next to their moms in those kangaroo pouch slings, the bigger ones in Boys Club T-shirts, Girl Scout uniforms, baseball duds, drill costumes.

The biggest ones had their baseball hats on backward and stood around being cool. It was a trying day for them.

We all know it is Against the Law for teen-agers to be impressed by anything, but it's hard to Be Cool and eat an ice cream cone at the same time. And we all know that teen-agers are Horribly Embarrassed by their families. But since everyone else's dorky family was right there doing the same dorky stuff, it was difficult for any teen to work up a good case of mortification.

A cynical friend of mine said in advance, "When you find a cause everyone agrees on, watch your wallet." The same sentiment apparently motivated the Christian right, whose spokesmen found reason to denounce the Stand for Children for having a "political agenda." Since I have never understood how some in the Christian right reconcile being "pro-family" with being against the Earned Income Tax Credit, I thought this a little strange.

Some guy from the Heritage Foundation said: "Embellishing current welfare programs will exacerbate the underlying problem. Getting spending under control and balancing the budget is a pro-child strategy." He may well be right, but God is in the details.

Welfare reform that puts another million children into poverty is not wise welfare reform. When 10 million children in this country have no health insurance, we do not need a new Medicaid block grant system that will take health care away from another 3 million children.

The Luxembourg Income Study did an international comparison showing that our child poverty rate, 26 percent, is among the highest in the developed world, and our percentage of children under 18 living in poverty without any government assistance is the highest. We can do better than that.

According to The New York Times, in the United States, a smaller proportion of families with poor children receive government assistance, and the amount of such assistance is smaller. The comparison countries are Australia, Canada, Ireland, Israel, Britain, Italy, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Norway, Luxembourg, Belgium, Denmark, Switzerland, Sweden and Finland. We can do better than that.

Most of the rhetoric at the Stand for Children would have delighted the very right-wingers who boycotted or criticized it; not only was there no political blame dished out, but personal and community responsibility was emphasized again and again. If I had to guess, I'd say the majority of the adults at the Stand for Children were people already doing volunteer work with children. By T-shirt identification and random interviews, I found that most of them were active in a variety of children's programs. And not one of them thinks that children don't need more help than volunteers alone can give.

Something lovely happened in Washington on Saturday. It should be noted.

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Molly Ivins is a columnist for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

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