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I consider myself a conservative libertarian, meaning that I hold conservative views as a person but mostly respect others rights to do as they please as long as they aren't shielded artificially from whatever negative effects their actions have.
However, when it comes to the issue of children I admit that I am more conservative than I am libertarian. The reason for this is that when a person has a child their actions are no longer only their concern, and thus I don't feel libertarian logic holds up as well anymore. Don't get me wrong, I don't believe the state should force parents to teach only some values to their children and not others or anything like that, but I don't disagree with (all) the various laws that exist to protect children.
One of the biggest beefs I have with modern society is the utterly broken family structures that are becoming more and more common in the western world. The traditional family (2 parents, 1 or more child) is falling out of style in favor of more socially destructive lifestyles.
Of course, one could blame this on government in many cases. Child benefits for example are a government program, and they make it easier for people to not dedicate to their life choices and instead just leave and take their kids with them because they know the taxpayer will take care of their kids. In many cases however single parenting appears to simply be the result of selfishness and bad ethic on the behalf of the parent or parents.
I should probably explain it in more detail why I think single parenting is bad in the first place.
So basically there are 3 major reasons for why a child should be raised by both parents and not only 1:
------------------------------------- -A more secure fiscal future.
2 people generate more wealth than 1. This is not hard to understand. When you couple that with the fact that raising a child is a lot of work which may negatively affect the ability of the single parent to earn more money this only becomes even more true. Because of this, a single parent is less likely to be able to secure a more bright future for his child and do such things as starting a saving which then later could be used to help the child pay for education once it's grown up, just to name one example.
-A stable life.
A stable and a secure traditional 2 parent family insures that the child grows up in a stable and a predictable world. A single parent all the while may end up dragging the child from one life spot to another with there being very little certain about what the future may hold.
-More time spent with the parents.
Raising a child isn't a 1 person job. It is not realistic for most people to both earn a living and spend enough time with the child. For this reason a single parent is much more likely to neglect a child's emotional needs than a traditional family is.
-------------------------------------
I just can't stand the extremely selfish and self-centered nature of many single parents. They claim that how they choose to live is the concern of nobody else, and normally I would agree. But I just don't get it how they can actually believe this when they have a child to take care of. They talk like their kids are just some kind of property who's responsibility it is to just fallow their owners wherever they go, instead of being individuals with their own mental and fiscal needs. These are people, who in my opinion, just blatantly care more about themselves and what they themselves want in life, than they care about creating a good and a stable existence for their children. I would not go as far as claiming they are all horrible people, but at the very least they are very childish, immature, and selfish.
I do understand that some single parents are single because they got screwed and ended up with abusive partners, and that there are others who ended up that way simply by being dumb (though I am not sure how great of an excuse that is, really). But single parenting now appears to be a common lifestyle rather than just some exception to the rule, and it's contributing to the slow destruction of western society by enforcing the ever selfish and hyper-individualist nature of modern western values.
So, I suggest a radical solution to this problem: Just make single parenting illegal.
The law would work as is described:
-Only a married couple may be allowed to raise a child. This marriage does not need to between a man and a women, but it must between 2 people.
-Singles may not adopt any children.
-Any children born outside of marriage are to be taken and put into adoption homes where they are to be given to more responsible, married couples. An exception may be given if the child is born in a relationship between 2 people if they get married within some X amount of time after the fact.
-After a married couple has given birth to a child, they are made to accept the huge responsibility that comes with creating a new life, by being made the permanent legal guardians of that child, and are obligated to show it the needed amount of love and care. For this reason, no married couple can legally divorce as long as there exists a minor within their family. This restriction is lifted once any children resulting from the marriage has reached the legal age of adulthood. An exception may be given in cases of domestic abuse, or if one partner dies by natural or unnatural causes. Should the parents or a parent refuse to accept this responsibility, they are to be charged with child neglect and punished accordingly. If only 1 member of the married couple refuses to take responsibility then the other is given custody of the child, otherwise both are charged and the child given to an adoption home.
Is it radical? Yes. But I believe that it's something that we need in order to counter the large levels of childishness and general hatred lots of people have towards the idea that they should actually take responsibility towards their children.
Is it radical? Yes. But I believe that it's something that we need in order to counter the large levels of childishness and general hatred lots of people have towards the idea that they should actually take responsibility towards their children.
Making this proposal shows that you are in no way, shape, or form a Libertarian.
Raising children in a single parent household is a travesty. Sure, some kids manage to turn out OK despite the significant odds against them. But the statistics are very bleak showing a very strong correlation between being raised in a single parent household and poor outcomes for the children. That said, making it illegal is not the solution.
I consider myself a conservative libertarian, meaning that I hold conservative views as a person but mostly respect others rights to do as they please as long as they aren't shielded artificially from whatever negative effects their actions have.
However, when it comes to the issue of children I admit that I am more conservative than I am libertarian. The reason for this is that when a person has a child their actions are no longer only their concern, and thus I don't feel libertarian logic holds up as well anymore. Don't get me wrong, I don't believe the state should force parents to teach only some values to their children and not others or anything like that, but I don't disagree with (all) the various laws that exist to protect children.
One of the biggest beefs I have with modern society is the utterly broken family structures that are becoming more and more common in the western world. The traditional family (2 parents, 1 or more child) is falling out of style in favor of more socially destructive lifestyles.
Of course, one could blame this on government in many cases. Child benefits for example are a government program, and they make it easier for people to not dedicate to their life choices and instead just leave and take their kids with them because they know the taxpayer will take care of their kids. In many cases however single parenting appears to simply be the result of selfishness and bad ethic on the behalf of the parent or parents.
I should probably explain it in more detail why I think single parenting is bad in the first place.
So basically there are 3 major reasons for why a child should be raised by both parents and not only 1:
------------------------------------- -A more secure fiscal future.
2 people generate more wealth than 1. This is not hard to understand. When you couple that with the fact that raising a child is a lot of work which may negatively affect the ability of the single parent to earn more money this only becomes even more true. Because of this, a single parent is less likely to be able to secure a more bright future for his child and do such things as starting a saving which then later could be used to help the child pay for education once it's grown up, just to name one example.
-A stable life.
A stable and a secure traditional 2 parent family insures that the child grows up in a stable and a predictable world. A single parent all the while may end up dragging the child from one life spot to another with there being very little certain about what the future may hold.
-More time spent with the parents.
Raising a child isn't a 1 person job. It is not realistic for most people to both earn a living and spend enough time with the child. For this reason a single parent is much more likely to neglect a child's emotional needs than a traditional family is.
-------------------------------------
I just can't stand the extremely selfish and self-centered nature of many single parents. They claim that how they choose to live is the concern of nobody else, and normally I would agree. But I just don't get it how they can actually believe this when they have a child to take care of. They talk like their kids are just some kind of property who's responsibility it is to just fallow their owners wherever they go, instead of being individuals with their own mental and fiscal needs. These are people, who in my opinion, just blatantly care more about themselves and what they themselves want in life, than they care about creating a good and a stable existence for their children. I would not go as far as claiming they are all horrible people, but at the very least they are very childish, immature, and selfish.
I do understand that some single parents are single because they got screwed and ended up with abusive partners, and that there are others who ended up that way simply by being dumb (though I am not sure how great of an excuse that is, really). But single parenting now appears to be a common lifestyle rather than just some exception to the rule, and it's contributing to the slow destruction of western society by enforcing the ever selfish and hyper-individualist nature of modern western values.
So, I suggest a radical solution to this problem: Just make single parenting illegal.
The law would work as is described:
-Only a married couple may be allowed to raise a child. This marriage does not need to between a man and a women, but it must between 2 people.
-Singles may not adopt any children.
-Any children born outside of marriage are to be taken and put into adoption homes where they are to be given to more responsible, married couples. An exception may be given if the child is born in a relationship between 2 people if they get married within some X amount of time after the fact.
-After a married couple has given birth to a child, they are made to accept the huge responsibility that comes with creating a new life, by being made the permanent legal guardians of that child, and are obligated to show it the needed amount of love and care. For this reason, no married couple can legally divorce as long as there exists a minor within their family. This restriction is lifted once any children resulting from the marriage has reached the legal age of adulthood. An exception may be given in cases of domestic abuse. Should the parents or a parent refuse to accept this responsibility, they are to be charged with child neglect and punished accordingly. If only 1 member of the married couple refuses to take responsibility then the other is given custody of the child, otherwise both are charged and the child given to an adoption home.
Is it radical? Yes. But I believe that it's something that we need in order to counter the large levels of childishness and general hatred lots of people have towards the idea that they should actually take responsibility towards their children.
Thoughts?
I don't know what to say, frankly. I am pretty sure, though, that your idea will go exactly nowhere in this country.
So the couple gets married. Has a baby, and when child is less than a yr old, Dad gets killed in a car crash. Now what??? Take the baby away from it's widowed Mother?
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