Vice President Kamala Harris has lately been presenting her economic plan to the public, both during a speech last month in North Carolina and on the campaign trail.

It includes a $6,000 federal gift to families with a new baby in the form of a tax credit, an expanded child tax credit, paid parental leave, a proposal to clamp down on the rising prices of groceries and measures to make buying a house more affordable including a $25,000 down payment for first-time buyers. Almost everything she proposed will require congressional approval.

This is of course a risk, since the electoral outcome in swing states may turn on the precise mixture of progressive and centrist themes, policies and language that Democrats advance.

One place where Harris and her running mate Minnesota Governor Tim Walz would be wise to hedge their bets concerns family policy, specifically paid parental leave and child care support.

Funding is needed to help new moms, and to an extent new dads, be with their newborns in the early months of their lives — anywhere from three to six months is where the discussion usually is. But then there is also a race to get parents, especially new moms, back on their career tracks so that they don’t lose pace with women who are not having babies.

Smart politics for the Democrats would be to address one of the major cultural battles of the last two generations, one that’s often under the surface in today’s politics: the question of what is the best way to raise young children — best for the children and the parents, be it husband and wife, wife and wife, or husband and husband.

There are two dominant models. In one model, two parents get to send one parent home for three to six months, typically the mother, and then provide a path for her to get back in the workplace with the help of major child care support. The other parent might also get some parental leave.

In the other model, two parents get to send one parent home for three to six months, again typically the mother, and then the mother or the father stays at home with the child for several years.

It used to be that conservatives favored the second model, but today there are both moderates and progressives who also want model two.

Nevertheless, both models are difficult to sustain for the vast majority of middle-class, not to mention working-class, young families.

It is just too expensive to effectively implement either model. The child care is too expensive, and it is too expensive for one partner in the marriage to quit their job.

Harris and most Democrats say we need generous child care support, but Harris’ plan doesn’t offer it. Generous support might amount to $8,000 a year for three to five years, especially for low-income middle-class families. Likewise, the federal government must offer a tax credit for one parent to stay home and take care of their young child. Democrats are stuck in the past because they think that it is unfair to women, indeed a sign of patriarchy, to give them the opportunity to be at home for several years. Moreover, they do not want to be the party to encourage men to stay at home for several years since this would be perceived as emasculating.

The courageous thing to do is to support the option to choose either, since it leaves it up to individual couples — straight and gay — how to manage their own lives regarding work and family responsibilities. Each family gets paid parental leave and then the option of child-care support or a tax credit for a stay-at-home parent.

A just and humane society would provide the economic means for couples to choose how to balance work and parenting responsibilities. It would also provide the moral framework, the moral language and the moral motivation for couples, employers and political leaders to make this choice one that is free and fair.

Harris is right to propose a plan to secure more money in the pockets of middle-class citizens. Yet she and Walz need to address a major cultural divide in the middle class and earmark money in ways that recognize and respect that divide.

Individuals need to have their choices affirmed in order to prevent feeling stigmatized or guilty for how they choose to balance their work and family responsibilities. Continuing to suppress and deny the major cultural conflict does more harm than good.

Dave Anderson (dmamaryland@gmail.com) ran for Congress in Maryland’s 8th District as a Democrat in 2016. He has taught political philosophy at the University of Cincinnati, the Johns Hopkins University and the George Washington University, and is the editor of “Leveraging” (Springer, 2014).