Friday, October 31, 2008

A Pro-Kid Libertarian

Ben Wattenberg describes himself as a "sometime libertarian." He doesn't want government telling people what to do. On the other hand, he has quite a few things that he thinks people should want to do. People like that often have a hard time deciding what to say about having children. Most of them do have kids, and most of them think that kids are great. They are reluctant, though, to even promote having kids as good for other people, since nothing constrains your liberty like children.

In Fewer, Wattenberg notes that these days about 16% of women have no children, but 3/4ths of them wish they had done otherwise. Torn between two inclinations, he nonetheless comes to this conclusion: “But my own belief is that having and raising children is the essence of the human experience.”

1 comment:

Kerri said...

i think that... whether it's biological or whathaveyou, even interacting with kids sparks something deep in the human soul. they are smaller, in-the-making people, after all.
in what i'm doing now, i still don't want kids of my own but i have realized how beautiful and amazing it is to grow up. and i never knew how much i really love teens and little kids.
and how rewarding it is to be there to help someone through that process of getting to be 20ish.