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From: rlr@pyuxn.UUCP (Rich Rosen)
Newsgroups: net.singles,net.politics,net.kids
Subject: Parents' "rights" and responsibilities - reply to Larry Bickford
Message-ID: <915@pyuxn.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 25-Jul-84 12:10:41 EDT
Article-I.D.: pyuxn.915
Posted: Wed Jul 25 12:10:41 1984
Date-Received: Fri, 27-Jul-84 04:37:24 EDT
References: <2014@hplabsc.UUCP> <2612@allegra.UUCP> <2023@hplabsc.UUCP> <897@pyuxn.UUCP> <1285@qubix.UUCP>
Organization: Bell Communications Research, Piscataway N.J.
Lines: 32

> >>  What about the "inalienable rights" of the parents to raise their children
> >>  according to their own standards?
> 
> Rosen:
> > They are worth squat.  They are not rights at all.  What right does a parent
> > have to "expect" to raise children to mold them as *they* see fit?  Children
> > are not pieces of property; they are human beings who are growing up to be
> > independent (hopefully) thinking (hopefully) adults (hopefully).  Parents
> > don't *own* them; they are charged with the responsibility of bringing them
> > up to be independent thinking adults, and there are NO rights associated
> > with that responsibility.
> 
> Responsibility without rights is as bad as rights without responbility.
> One is totalitarianism; the other is anarchy. Rosen apparently has
> chosen the former.  [LARRY BICKFORD]

Funny, I recall you saying a few months back that YOU, given the choice of
anarchy and totalitarianism, would choose the latter.  So what are you
complaining about?

You don't like the fact that having kids brings more responsibility than
rights?  More pains than pleasures?  More toil than fun?  Then there's a
simple solution:  don't have kids.  If you honestly feel that having a child
is a burden and if you believe that you have "rights" to impose your will and
life views on your children, you shouldn't be having kids anyway.  (It would
mean that, based on this, you wouldn't be fit to be a parent.  As someone else
said, it's a shame the process of making babies is so simple, and that being
a parent doesn't require a competency test.)

-- 
This unit humbly and deeply apologizes for having and expressing opinions.
This will not occur again.  (BEEP)		Rich Rosen   pyuxn!rlr