reply to post by BlueRaja
Whether funds are disbursed directly to the children (who are, for the most part too young to enter into legal contracts and/or bank accounts
on
their own), or to their parents/legal guardiens, is immaterial.
If, for whatever reason, the child's parents/relatives either cannot, or will not, provide support, the burden must then fall to the government;
either at the state or federal level.
The only remaining options would be:
-Privately funded charitable organizations (who recieve
their funding through contributions from the likes of you and me - that's called
"indrect taxation" by some),
-Putting the children to work so that they earn (or at least contribute to) their own keep. This of course presumes that there is/would be a market
demand for uneducated/unskilled underage children. Other than the "asinine" suggestion of the kiddie-sex trade, can
You think of any
alternate occupations?
-Or, as postulated, letting the children die in the streets as "Somebody Else's Problem".
You can't stop people, whatever their socio-economic and/or adjudged fitness to reproduce might be, from having kids.
Unless you want to somehow require everyone to obtain a "License to Breed".
But then how would you enforce such a law? Even with a governmentally funded, bureaucratic agency to over-see them (which
you wouldn't have
because there wouldn't
be any taxes to pay for it!), you still couldn't keep folks from committing "un-sanctioned procreation".
Unless you also want to start a program of "mandatory sterilization" and apply it to those deemed "un-worthy" to reproduce.
Can you say "Eugenics"?
Can you say "Seig Heil!"?
I live in a community. It is a community that extends far beyond merely the end of my fingertips. I am not so cossetted by immaturity to
believe that need and neglect in my community has no import for
me.
Just as my community supports me, or, tries to support me, it is my
obligation to support it, or at least try to support it.
Granted, the needs of the community may far exceed my personal needs; the quid pro quo may seldom be equal, but I rejoice in the fact that
my
needs are so much less than those of others: "There but for Fate, go I".
Taxation is not a matter of
Priviledge but of
Obligation; Obligation in consideration for the
priviledge of living in a
social community, as a member entitled to the benefits provided by the society.
If you cannot reconcile your percieved value of those benfits with the cost of those benefits, then by all means,
Leave.
You owe it to your
self.
Just be sure not to use any of those benfits on your way out; you ain't paying for them, you ain't entitled to them.