“But the State has to protect the children!”
April 29, 2008 – 6:43 pm by John“Or else stupid and negligent parents would cause all sorts of harm to them!”
It is an understandable position, one I used to take in my darker, minarchist days. However, it is hard to deny the reality that often, the harm that a parent does to a child is not even as bad as the solution the State implements.
Take Christopher Ratte, a Tigers fan who bought his son a Mike’s Hard Lemonade at Comerica Park. He asked the concession stand guy for a lemonade, and he was given a lemonade with liquor in it. He didn’t know that “Mike’s Hard Lemonade” had alcohol in it (he claims). So, maybe he’s dumb and a little out of touch.
Naturally, since I’m writing about it, someone who works for the State found out. What might be an acceptable punishment for giving your 7-year-old son hard lemonade? A fine? Banishment from Comerica Park? A class on how to be a better parent?
Oh. Kidnapping the child and placing him in foster care. I guess I don’t know anything about parenting and even less about appropriate law enforcement. I’m sure they are doing what’s best, though, since they work for mother government. They would never be stupid or negligent enough to do something that would obviously harm a child. Especially something as bad as giving him alcohol.