I've finally caught up with this thread! Wow. I start, I think, with the same premise that Phil does, and that is that it is none of the government's business how people, individually, conduct their lives or make reproductive choices.
...snip...
Although the issue of Carrie Buck's forced sterilization has come and gone from this thread, it is instructive in that that was a legal philosophy that prevailed in the country until only two generations ago - Carrie herself only died 25 years ago.
That is nice sounding, but the issue is not how "it is none of the government's business how people, individually, conduct their lives or make reproductive choices." It is about whether the taxpayer should foot the bill for raising a child, and whether it is okay for the taxpayer to require something in return.
As to Carrie Buck, it started as a "legal philosophy" during the Progressive era in America, which is different from portraying it as though it were somehow the law of the land from our nation's inception.;-)
Yours,
Issodhos
