The promise of universality

The Lieutenant Governor of Texas, Daniel Patrick, is well-known among wonks for his hyper-traditionalist views of religion and its role in public life. In short: he's for it, as long as it's his flavor of Christian. He wants gays back in the closet, women to stop being sexy unless they're married and then only for their husbands, and trans people shouldn't be allowed out in public.

Texas's foster care and adoption system is in a terrible crisis. Children considered "most at risk" have gone as long as half a year between visits from a state foster care worker. The Department of Protective and Regulatory Services says its $40 million behind its state-mandated obligations.

Patrick's response has been to say that "churches should ask their parishioners to step forward" to handle the burden.

Not all of the children in crisis are Christian. Nor will all of them respond well to the kind of Christianity that Daniel Patrick is promoting through his office. But that's okay with Patrick. He doesn't mind if the kids get a little nonconsensual indoctrination along the way. Lives really don't matter all that much to Patrick; what matters is that the bureaucracy to which he has dedicated his life gains in power.

That bureaucracy is not the State of Texas. It is the church.

There's a reason I believe in republican democracy. It's the only institution that is constituted with the goal of serving everyone. Equally well or equally poorly, perhaps, but it's goal is to serve everyone who lives within its jurisdiction. To the extent that the United States is one of the ten wealthiest countries in the world, it's genuinely horrifying how we fail our poorest citizens.

Churches and their charities serve a different goal: the glory and empowerment of the church. All bureaucracies conform to a similar goal. Government is the one bureaucracy constituted to serve all of its citizens, is subject to oversight by the people it serves without reservation, and can have its administration overturned by those people if it fails to meet its goals.

I have no starry-eyed naivete about the ways bureaucracies can hide, elide, and deceive. But when someone says "The churches should do it" or "A charity can do it," what they're really advocating is for a base of power with less accountability and less interest in actually serving the poor and needful.

"I like to pay taxes. With them, I buy civilization." - Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes.

Comfort Food Fish Tacos

I had a bag of fish sticks in my freezer that desperately needed to be used up, so I came up with this. I went to the store and bought a bag of cabbage coleslaw shred, without the dressing, and a 24-pack of those tiny, 4-inch "street" tortillas.

While the fish sticks cooked, I made a dressing: 1/3cup mayonnaise (lowfat is fine), 2 tbsp lime juice, 1/2 tsp chili powder, 1/2 tsp diced softened ancho peppers (see below). If you have kids, a half-teaspoon of sugar might not be out of place, but adult palates shouldn't need it. Salt and pepper to taste.

Ancho peppers usually come dried in those cellophane pockets usually only seen in "ethnic" groceries. They're unbelievably cheap, not very hot at all, and they add a ton of flavor. To prepare it, peel the dried pepper open and wipe out the seeds with your fingers or a spoon; put the pepper into a saucepan with just enough water to cover. Heat on low (do not boil) until they're soft— this should take about 10 minutes, the time it takes the fish sticks to cook. Drain and let sit on a paper towel.

If you leave the seeds in while you simmr, the peppers come out hotter. I'll leave that to your discretion.

When the fish sticks are ready, take them out, turn the oven off, then put into the still-warm oven at least three tortillas per person. Add the peppers to the dressing, and then mix that into the cabbage shred.

Take one warmed tortilla, add one heaping tablespoon of the coleslaw, one fish stick, and an optional dollop of salsa. Three to five of these is a single serving, depending on appetite.

It takes about 20 minutes to make, and I think the whole meal comes out to something like less than three bucks a person, too.