The biggest social issue in the United States of America is the country’s adoption and foster care process, according to Kentucky Gov. Matt Bevin.
Giving remarks during the closing dinner banquet for Young America’s Foundation’s President’s Club Weekend at the Reagan Ranch Center on State Street, Mr. Bevin explained that the government should not be raising children – but society has increasingly abdicated this responsibility down to the government.
“We have over 470,000 children in foster care in the United States of America,” said Mr. Bevin, a father of nine – including four foster care children. “When children age out at the age of 18… they’re just dumped out into society. This is a massive social problem that people aren’t aware of.”
When children age out of the foster care system, 31 percent of them will have been arrested for something, the governor said. More than 50 percent of them will be chronically or perpetually homeless for their lives. Fifty-four percent will never graduate from high school or even get a GED.
“If they are a woman, it is almost a statistical certainty that they will be trafficked, that they will be abused, that they will live in poverty, that they will have children that will be raised in poverty,” he said.
Seventy percent of the 2 million people in America’s prison system have been through foster care, as have 81 percent of those on death row, he added.
“In Kentucky alone, we have 2,500 kids still waiting to be adopted that are fully eligible to be adopted,” Mr. Bevin said. “We have 6,500 houses of worship – how can we not find one home? My point being is that this is the biggest social issue that this nation faces, and we’re asleep at the wheel on this.”
Mr. Bevin, who is trailing Gov.-elect Andy Beshear by 5,189 votes, again said Saturday that he has not conceded. He has alleged voting “irregularities” in Kentucky and has claimed that thousands of absentee ballots were counted illegally without presenting any proof to back up his claim.
“I’ve not conceded this election – not because I’m trying to be obstinate,” Mr. Bevin said. “To be honest, nothing would make me personally happier than to not be in politics. I hate to say that, but it’s the truth.
“It sucks the life out of you and it’s a zero-sum game in terms of the hours in your life,” he continued. “But I will tell you the reason I haven’t… if you do not think that there are people that would try to hijack our political process – and while they are yelling about Russian collusion at the front door and telling us to man the front gates against the Russians, they’re all at the back gate robbing us blind.”
He questioned why there has been a push for electronic voting.
“You don’t know who is voting. You don’t know who is making the decisions. Why would we want a government like that? I would submit to you that we don’t,” he said. “I would rather lose a clean election than to win a dirty election. And I’ll be damned if I want to lose a dirty election. So to that end, let’s just make sure it’s legit.”
Mr. Bevin has requested a recanvas, which is expected to occur next week.
Admitting he doesn’t necessarily like the world of politics, Mr. Bevin – a U.S. Army veteran – said he is grateful for the opportunity to serve his country. While some suspect Kentucky has always been a red state, Mr. Bevin is only the fourth Republican elected as governor since the 1920s. There has never been back to back terms of a Republican in the state’s history.
“All this is to say is that in the time that I’ve been governor, we’ve taken on a lot of challenges,” he said. “But I would encourage you young people to be bold and have courage. If ever there was a time, we need it now. We need more shepherds and fewer sheep, because we have a society that is trying to get you to keep your mouth shut, trying to get you to be politically correct and trying to get you to not offend anybody.
“Everybody is for diversity of thought unless your thought is diverse from theirs,” he explained. “They’re all for inclusiveness, unless it includes you. Its absolute rank hypocrisy and you need to be able to call that out.”
email: mwhite@newspress.com
