Quote:
Originally Posted by amplify
I don't have a system. I don't tell other people what to do with their children.
Forcing people to do stuff they don't want to do is unacceptable.
If a monkey made you a sandwich, would you eat it?
I don't understand "Forcing people to do stuff they don't want to do is unacceptable. " It certainly is inconsistent with "I don't tell other people what to do with their children."
My questions center around the rights of children before they reach an age of responsibility. One problem with not having a system is that if you believe children do have rights of protection, then you are faced with a major problem.
For instance, is it right for me to give my child a time out though that is forcing her to do stuff she does not want to? Is having her get a job at age 6 (where she may not even voice an objection) ok? What about marrying her off with her approval at age 8? I am not trying to be specious here, but I just don't see a model where your theories work. Apparently you don't either unless I mis interpreted the "I don't have a system" statement.
I am not one to say don't point out a problem if you don't have a better way of doing things (that is a pretty silly stance). I just don't really see the problems that you do. If you showed me a way things could be better, then I might agree that the current ways are bed (and I certainly don't think what we have is perfect). But I do see the benefits in a pragmatic way, and I can even see lots of philosophical arguments for them, counter to the philosophical arguments against them. (Hell, as far as I understand it, Confucius was basically making those arguments.)
Also, if you are starting with an individuals rights are paramount, I don't see how you can get to a less governance solution, either. (I do start with that belief, and I get to a completely different place than you do.) Perhaps we diverge at "earned wealth". I don't see me making money as something I do on my own, but as something I do in a complex system; there is a symbioses there. Another system may be better, but denying the impact of the current one is living in denial.
Perhaps I am just self serving. I know my wife would be dead and my daughters possibly doomed to early death if we did not have the medical advancement we have had, and that those advancement are in large part due to the system you decry. Government funded research has lead to myriad breakthroughs which have increased productivity and quality of life.