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I think childless folks have a different perspective on life and a different perspective on the future. Having kids makes you worry about it more because you have offspring who have to live in it. Being childless does give you less of stake in the future because when you die, you don’t have any kids or grandkids left behind to deal with any potential societal consequences of current decisions.
I don’t fully agree with Musks statement but also don’t think it’s that out there of a thing to say or believe.
That is looking at it in the simplest terms. Obviously people are more complex than that. Musk is not father of the year. And there are childfree people who care deeply about humanity in general and do a lot of giving.
Truth is most people are for themselves. Young people talk about how selfish their parents are compared to their grandparents. Me generation passing from boomers down. There will be few grandchildren anyway, young people can't afford to have kids and their parents many of who did well in better times and voted for bad policy that exists today, are not thinking much about that.
So Paris Hilton and her kids should get extra SS and Medicare?? For what purpose?
You can cherry pick all you want but I don't think it can be argued that childless retirees' benefits aren't paid for by the children of others. Parents go through a lot of grief raising children who then may become taxpayers contributing to the public weal.
What about a 19 year old without children, whether married or not?
What about people who just lost their only child to illness?
Does an 18 year old unmarried parent has more voting rights than a mature married couple without children?
So the childless people do not get tax exemptions, and do not get to vote?
Last edited by snowmountains; 07-04-2023 at 12:42 PM..
I have had similar thoughts but on a much smaller scale and in regards to local politics. I think having kids gives you a much wider perspective on life. I know childless folks will take great offense to that but it’s something that I believe wholeheartedly. Your life changes pretty much overnight when you have kids as does your perspective.
OF course your life changes, like it does with other big life events. Doesn't automatically make anyone wiser though.
What if you lose your child and go from childed to childless, do you get a free pass or does perspective change back to whatever it was supposed to have been before?
OF course your life changes, like it does with other big life events. Doesn't automatically make anyone wiser though.
What if you lose your child and go from childed to childless, do you get a free pass or does perspective change back to whatever it was supposed to have been before?
No, of course losing your child does not take away the perspective you gained as a parent and I’m sure such a traumatic thing wold give you a much deeper perspective on life that parents who have not lost children could never even dream of.
Of course there are exceptions but I think parenting chnages your perspective in major ways that other life events just don’t.
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Quote:
Originally Posted by albert648
No, voting rights should be limited to net taxpayers.
The US started out as a country where only propertied males had the right to vote. Close enough to "net taxpayers" to make no difference.
Wanna know why almost all citizens (barring in a few states, the incarcerated) have the right to vote? It's because without that right to vote, government will not represent their best interests. If you think that those who pay only sales taxes ought to have the right to vote, then just come out and say you believe in a plutocracy and not a democracy, or even representative republic (for those who care to make the distinction).
Besides, history shows that an unenfranchised group within a country eventually raises hell within that country - and tends to cause a lot of property damage and (even worse) dead bodies.
Would make sense and be fair only if the elected officials only make decisions that affect only future generations and not the current ones.
Another question: Would a childless person be eligible as election candidate? If they don't have voting rights, how can they be candidates or hold office at all?
You can cherry pick all you want but I don't think it can be argued that childless retirees' benefits aren't paid for by the children of others. Parents go through a lot of grief raising children who then may become taxpayers contributing to the public weal.
What does childlessness have to do with people who pay high income taxes getting more Medicare and SS benefits? That's the post I responded to.
The US started out as a country where only propertied males had the right to vote. Close enough to "net taxpayers" to make no difference.
Wanna know why almost all citizens (barring in a few states, the incarcerated) have the right to vote? It's because without that right to vote, government will not represent their best interests. If you think that those who pay only sales taxes ought to have the right to vote, then just come out and say you believe in a plutocracy and not a democracy, or even representative republic (for those who care to make the distinction).
Besides, history shows that an unenfranchised group within a country eventually raises hell within that country - and tends to cause a lot of property damage and (even worse) dead bodies.
And that's how you get a mobocracy in which people vote themselves other people's money.
You can't have universal representation without universal, uniform taxation.
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