I'm the oldest of 10 kids. My family needed a 15-passenger van to travel. Why can't the government stay out of my business?
Thing is, if you drive 10 people, you drive one van. If ten people take the train or the bus, you buy ten tickets. Even if there were much better public transportation in the US, the economics push toward driving with larger family sizes.
> ... and that independent mobility is all but dead in the United States...
Not sure what you mean here?
Source: we got burned by this plenty often.
As I see it, the moment you leave your private property you are interacting with society and it's not your business anymore. Of course you need the option for a bigger van, but that doesn't mean that nothing can be done about the SUVs. You can't just drive around on public(!) roads and think you're not bound to the rules of society. Also, it's a private citizen proposing this and not "the government". Environmental legislation is a product of changing attitudes in society and not some deep-state, technocratic action.
I understand the argument here, but I think it's bad. Government does get a say in what is driven on roads: safe cars that are often inspected and pose less danger to those around and inside them. That's already a lot of restriction, now we let the gov't pick favorites too? Government is not your fairy godmother, things you don't like will happen.
You're depicting one side of a question with a practical example ("more pollution") and the other side as though they are simply assholes ("they just can't stay out of other's business"). There is a reasonable version of both sides.
Are you saying some of us should have been put in the notoriously abusive foster care system instead of having a great family?
But how on earth were you supervised. I guess one parent must have been stay-at-home. Which means the other had to earn an income for the whole dozen of you? Did you ever see that parent (seriously, did they have to work 80+ hrs a week?)
> Are you saying some of us should have been put in the notoriously abusive foster care system
I think if you have 10 kids, then someone checking in to make sure that the kids are being fed, supervised, educated becomes a thing that probably needs to happen. If your parents were able to pull it off, great. I just doubt many parents could.
>But how on earth were you supervised. I guess one parent must have been stay-at-home.
Mom still is, and she's good at it. The real answer is that it's not any more effort past 6 or so kids. I've been taking care of kids my entire life, essentially, and it really does become self-sustaining. Turns out tweens and young teens are great at taking care of babies. There's a picture somewhere of 10-year-old me wearing my new baby sister in a carrier.
Dad's a principal engineer, he's been remote for a long time, we saw him plenty. (he's also somewhat active here, Hi Dad!)
As long as you don't spend money on things like TV, and buy in bulk to cook at home, it's really not too expensive. We'd spend about $1300 a month in groceries.
> I think if you have 10 kids, then someone checking in to make sure that the kids are being fed, supervised, educated becomes a thing that probably needs to happen.
Where's the threshold for the state examining their anuses because obviously something must be wrong here?
We did have CPS called a couple times, once because I was doing my college coursework at 14 sitting on the patio roof. I hopped down, we sat around and listened to the spiel, then I politely asked them if they could fuck off because my Sociology 204 class was about to happen.
We also scored at the top of our (good) school district in standardized testing. Like, all of us were the top score in our grade.
Firstly, births are (usually) spread out over time (20 years for my family). Secondly, the older children help the younger ones (in all respects: I am deeply grateful for the socializing influence of my elder (by 4 years) sister). Thirdly, there is more to life than "family" life (neighborhood children, friends, school, sports, job, etc.) and so we were often under the care of others or on our own. Consequently my friends and I roamed the woods and swamps, cycled around town, to/from school and generally, wandered everywhere within the city limits (~20-mile radius). Once we could drive a car, trips became shorter, less varied, more task- and family-oriented.
I remember the first time my mom told me to "hold down the fort!", rushed out in an emergency and left me in charge of my younger siblings. Pretty exciting to be handed such responsibility but it was easier than it sounds and a lot of fun really.
The world is full of people who have families and lives and they are not just shallow copies of you.
Just because something isn't to your liking or understanding doesn't mean it's bad or wrong.
With that simple statement she opened up a whole new world to me.