In Loco Parentis
This is an excerpt. The full article can be accessed at straightlinelogic.com, or by clicking the link above.
Why should biological parents bother marrying when they have a parent ready to provide, if not love, discipline, encouragement, and moral guidance, at least cash and a host of in kind benefits for them and their children? This parent insists they are entitled to what they are getting and requires nothing more than that they fill out some forms. Oh, and if it’s not too much trouble, please punch the holes on the ballot box for those promising more of the same.
After eighty years of being told it is their right, children of the welfare state don’t bother to ask their parents—biological and governmental—to support them into adulthood; they demand it. The “parenting” they have received has utterly crippled these children for the first biological essential: surviving on their own. Yet, not only are we expecting them to provide for themselves, they are supposed to pay off the $127 trillion (almost eight times the GDP) unfunded liability for the social security, medicare, and prescription drug benefits prior generations have granted themselves. This is delusion bordering on insanity.
There will, of course, always be grownups who ask only to provide for themselves. As the welfare state expands, their opportunities shrink, but they are told it is their duty to foot the bill. Playing it straight has become a fools’ game. The Peters know and resent it and stagnant incomes, declining labor force participation, and a sputtering economy indicate we are approaching the breaking point. The children’s latest demand for medical care may well be the last straw. The ironic joke: their hero, Mr. Hope and Change, is asking them to pick up the tab.
Why should biological parents bother marrying when they have a parent ready to provide, if not love, discipline, encouragement, and moral guidance, at least cash and a host of in kind benefits for them and their children? This parent insists they are entitled to what they are getting and requires nothing more than that they fill out some forms. Oh, and if it’s not too much trouble, please punch the holes on the ballot box for those promising more of the same.
After eighty years of being told it is their right, children of the welfare state don’t bother to ask their parents—biological and governmental—to support them into adulthood; they demand it. The “parenting” they have received has utterly crippled these children for the first biological essential: surviving on their own. Yet, not only are we expecting them to provide for themselves, they are supposed to pay off the $127 trillion (almost eight times the GDP) unfunded liability for the social security, medicare, and prescription drug benefits prior generations have granted themselves. This is delusion bordering on insanity.
There will, of course, always be grownups who ask only to provide for themselves. As the welfare state expands, their opportunities shrink, but they are told it is their duty to foot the bill. Playing it straight has become a fools’ game. The Peters know and resent it and stagnant incomes, declining labor force participation, and a sputtering economy indicate we are approaching the breaking point. The children’s latest demand for medical care may well be the last straw. The ironic joke: their hero, Mr. Hope and Change, is asking them to pick up the tab.
