I understand and agree with all of this, Goethe, except perhaps the implications of one of your points: "no government has any say whatsoever over ... when I decide to bestow independence upon them." The problem with absolute rejection of a role for the state is that it doesn't answer what happens if your will conflicts with your child's. Do you believe that, should you see fit, you should refuse ever to bestow independence on your children? If you live long enough, should you be able to forbid them when they are fifty from marrying someone you disapprove of, for example? If so, how should you be able to enforce your will? In a country conforming to your ideals, would you be able to call on the law to enforce it? If not, as I would guess from the foregoing, how do you expect to enforce it? Are you absolutely confident you can invariably manage this through reason, persuasion, threats or force? Or do you admit the possibility of defeat, in which case should it be simply a contest of wills between parent and child, with no one else allowed to interfere? I shall be fascinated by any clarification of this. www.amazon.com/dp/1481222112 |