Who should our youth aspire to?

[voltage]

Maybe you should vote, that might help conclude the results. ;D

And I believe that BBQ was practicing a classic form of communication known as satire, maybe even sarcasm. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[bbqsandwich]

I was sorta serious actually, but it's hard to keep calm when discussing this type of issue without either cracking a sarcastic joke or else getting really mad, so I choose the former.

I'm concerned that if the government steps in and makes parenting a hassle, then some people may just have more abortions, or even just abandon/ kill their children after birth more frequently -- as opposed to simply having fewer children, which is a related issue but still a whole different animal.

Brief* side-trip: I personally don't believe that a government-led or government-enforced effort to end or contain population growth is a good thing, for a number of reasons -- not the least of which that it's simply none of the governments business how many children a couple has.

Ideally, it would be none of the government's business how a couple chooses to raise their child, either -- but as has been pointed out, what was once considered the norm (good parenting) has now become less frequent in the face of broken families, abusive parents, incompetent parents, busy parents, and government/ school encroachment on what was traditionally parent territory in terms of a child's upbringing.


(edited for spelling)

[Admin]

bbqsandwich said:

I'm concerned that if the government steps in and makes parenting a hassle, then some people may just have more abortions, or even just abandon/ kill their children after birth more frequently -- as opposed to simply having fewer children, which is a related issue but still a whole different animal.

Which may actually be a positive thing for countries such as China and India

bbqsandwich said:

Bried side-trip: I personally don't believe that a government-led or government-enforced effort to end or contain population growth is a good thing, for a number of reasons -- not the least of which that it's simply none of the governments business how many children a couple has.

I think it should be a fairly simple process. If two people want to have a baby, they go to their nearest doctors office and apply to see if they are eligible. If they have been sober and clean for at least 7 to 10 years then they should be allowed. All that would need to be done by the doctors is a quick background check. And obviously the government, too, would help with this matter. Those found having a baby without authorization would have to have an abortion depending on how far along the child is, or it would go up for adoption untill the parents became eligable to raise their own child. This would be great because it would help to eliminate kids with severe mental illnesses such as retardation, stop kids from having deformations, and there would just be overall more healthy (physicaly and mentaly) people in society.

Of course this is coming from and Atheist/Darwinist POV

bbqsandwich said:

Ideally, it would be none of the government's business how a couple chooses to raise their child, either -- but as has been pointed out, what was once considered the norm (good parenting) has now become less frequent in the face of broken families, abusive parents, incompetent parents, busy parents, and government/ school encroachment on what was traditionally parent territory in terms of a child's upbringing.

I totally agree. Once the parents have been proved eligible, it would be up to them how to raise their child. The gov't shouldn't interfere then.

Also, this 'program' would eliminate at least two from your list:
abusive parents & incompetent parents.