Family (Ohana)
There is no unit more essential to a flourishing society than family.
During tough economic times, the family feels the strain more than ever.
The Over-Stretched Family
Traditionally, the father would serve as the "bread winner" of the family while the mother would shoulder the majority of the responsibilities of raising the children. The mother deciding to work would be optional and a decision the husband and wife would decide together.
That is almost universally not the case in Hawaii. Due to the staggeringly high cost of living, many, if not most families, have little choice but to have both parents working full time. This has a number of consequences on the integrity of the family.
Long work hours leave both parents drained by the time they arrive home, with little energy to spare on their children, contributing to behavioral issues and declining educational attainment.
This then causes a snowball effect tied to issues detailed in my Education platform page.
Fatherlessness
The Nuclear Family, also known as an intact family, is proven to be the largest leg up a child can have in life, and the absence thereof, the largest handicap to a fruitful life. Unfortunately, the Nuclear family has increasingly fallen under attack, leaving more and more children in a precarious situation, at astronomically higher risk of teen pregnancy, drug abuse, gang involvement, incarceration, domestic abuse, poverty, and homelessness.
It is my belief that one of the most effective means of alleviating many of Hawaii's most severe issues, ranging from homelessness, drug addiction, crime, violence, and poverty, is to emphasize the essential role of the father in developing young men and women, and work with the community to provide an effective means of aiding those who lack a father figure.