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Is Reproduction a Right or a Priveledge?Okay, enough pussyfooting around. I want to know whose brilliant idea it was to allow anyone who wants to reproduce. In many parts of the country, pet-owners must obtain permission to breed their animals, yet we allow anyone who wants to crank out as many little ankle-biters as they can. I know of families with ten or more children, and I wonder what in the world gave the parents the misbegotten idea that this was a good idea? I am infuriated by the fact that there exists a tax credit for families with children. This has got to be the most transparent way politicians have yet invented to garner votes among the unwashed masses. "Who would ever oppose a tax break for those 'people in need?'" one smart politician asked himself. Of course, all the other ninnies jumped on the bandwagon. After all, who wants to hear, at re-election time, the voice of their opponent on the TV saying that "he opposed tax relief for those familes who need it most." I have no sympathy for those who are enduring the cost of raising children. It makes me want to stand up and ask, "Why can't I get tax relief because I have a trouble-prone dog? Why can't I get tax relief because I own a high-maintainence car?" You made your bed, now you lie in it. YOU decided to have children, so YOU should pay for them! What is actually happening is that there is a tax PENALTY if you choose not to contribute to the problem of overpopulation. Would somebody please explain this to me in a way that makes sense?!? The other day on the radio, I heard a woman bemoaning the fact that she couldn't afford decent child care for her toddler. It amazed me that of all the respondents who called in with suggestions and advice, of all the sympathetic ears and shoulders to cry on, not one person asked the important question. "Why didn't you think of that before you conceived?" Was this woman really stupid enough to think that after she gave birth, she'd wrap the infant up in a papoose and go in to her office job with it strapped on her back? Did she honestly believe that a kindly old neighbor would volunteer every weekday for the next 12 years to watch her child? Why did we allow a woman as ignorant as this to reproduce??? Over the last twenty years, we have increased the world population by 25 percent, to the tune of almost six billion people! In twenty more years, we will have an estimated eight billion people. Twenty more years will see almost ELEVEN BILLION people. What will it take for folks to wise up to what's happening? The human race apparently isn't smart enough to cross its collective legs and stop popping out infants left and right. Fortunately for us, nature has several methods of dealing with overpopulation. Famine is the most popular one, and is a method which third world countries are dealing with right now. When your population outstrips your food-supplying capacity, what will you do then? If you are one of the lucky ones who manages to feed themselves, you get to contend with pestilence. Yes, disease inevitably follows hand in hand with famine. Weakened immune systems assist in spreading all sorts of virulence. Another method of natural population control is by induced child / parent morbidity. The healthy young adults kill the elderly, the infirm, and the newborn to discourage competition for scarce resources. Oh, but we're far too civilized to stoop to that level, aren't we? So there you have it. We are rapidly running out of room on this planet, so it's time to make a choice. Do we allow reproduction to remain unchecked and in so doing, go down Nature's path? Or do we make the mature decision to limit our own growth? Personally, I think that we should allow each person to bear one child. If you don't wish to exercise your option, you should be allowed to sell your right to reproduce to the highest bidder. If you have extra children, I think you should have a heavy tax levied upon you, (say 25 percent?) until either you or the child dies, in order to support the increased infrastructure necessary to maintain one more warm body upon this planet. Hey, if you insist on having lots of kids, YOU can pay for the priveledge. I don't want to suffer because you can't keep your fly zipped. Adopted children would be excluded from this tax, and would not count against the limit. If any politician had the balls to do so, I'd love to see a motion introduced for mandatory reversable tubal ligations for every woman over the age of twelve. When you had taken a parenting course and purchased a permit (or maybe just carried an egg around with you for a week as some proof that you could be trusted not to break something fragile) you could get your tubes unblocked and have a child. If you can't take the time to learn basic parenting techniques, you have no time for a child. If you can't spend $100.00 on a breeder's permit (refundable upon proof of financial need or failure to conceive) you certainly can't afford a child, either. "But whose parenting techniques will you teach?" There are some things which are universal. You don't beat your child until it bleeds. You don't scream at your child. You do not have sexual relations with your child. Yelling at a child will not stop bedwetting. Be consistent. Be kind. That sort of that's been practiced by every successful parent regardless of outside diversifying factors. Parenting is as difficult as you make it. Look around the world and tell me if this is not true. Those parents out there who are generally considered successful have many traits in common. When you think about it, most of these traits are the same as found in successful animal trainers. When you take off the thin veneer of civilization, humans are, after all, only a different species of animal. The same techniques that work for Rover work for Sally, too.
Agree? Disagree? Have any more general rules? Let me know, and if they're any good, I'll put 'em in.
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