>Or maybe where slavery and indentured servitude hasn't quite been phased out?
The question of whether the Feds had authority to universally outlaw slavery presented a constitutional crisis that culminated in the Civil War, and there are still people who believe that such prohibitions are out of the scope of the federal government's powers (not that they believe slavery should still be legal, but they believe that per the 10th Amendment, the right to make that decision was reserved to the states). It's certainly not a simple matter.
These folk are also know as the "job creators". Why should they pay you for not working? Your newborn doesn't do anything for their bottom line. After all, it is their fiduciary duty to maximize shareholder value by screwing over employees, customers, suppliers or anyone else who is not a shareholder. They are already not fans of raising the minimum wage, why should they be pro-labor in any other area?
That's not totally true. Many countries require the employer to pay at least some of the leave.
>Again a public good like raising the next generation should be paid for by the public.
This is absolutely not the American perspective. Americans don't think of their children as "public goods", and the expectation is that everyone will support themselves and their offspring, and that individual charity will be accommodated by voluntary private activity as necessary. This isn't based on selfishness, but a belief that if you don't want your children to be wards of the state, they shouldn't be dependent on it for their sustenance.
The European system is looked upon with suspicion out here, to say the least. America is not a big government place.
why is this preferred? make everyone pay for it? make everyone who doesnt have kids poorer? pass the money through the government that takes a cut of it to administer the program leaving less money on the other side. i dont see the good in any of it