Source: thegarrisoncenter.org 8/17/25
At a 1992 debate, an audience member hit incumbent US president George H.W. Bush, as well as candidates Bill Clinton and Ross Perot, with an interesting question. I personally recall the moment, and found it somewhat odd at the time, but I’m trusting AI on the exact quote, so don’t ask for my oath on its accuracy:
“I ask the three of you to look into the camera and talk to us about how you would be as a president, as a father of the country. Why should we entrust you with our future, our hopes, and our children?”
At the time, I remember thinking to myself “What? The president as our national parent? How could anyone fall for that kind of nonsense?”
But the three candidates actually took the audience member’s question seriously instead of pushing back, and the 33 years between then and now answer my own follow-up question dispositively. The answer is “the vast majority of voters.”
How did we arrive at the near-complete abdication of real parental responsibility, in favor of government proxy, that we see around us today? It’s tempting to just blame …
Amen!
Pre-parenting counseling should be required by all who think they want to be a parent to understand their choices and the impact on minors it will have as well actually legally holding the parent responsible for the minor’s actions. Those who give their children to the govt are no better than overseas countries who indoctrinate their people’s children who grow up to be adults our country are not a fan of.
There was definitely more hope for the future 33 years ago, but we all witnessed how that hope only lasted almost another decade until 9/11 happened. Ever since, we’ve lived in a reactionary society fraught with uncertainty and overrun with preemptive policy. All in the name of public safety, but the underlying intent is profiting from the collective hysteria.
We were not meant to live in a fast-paced, instant-gratification driven digital world where the constant bombardment of information shapes our personal opinions and views through fear.
Believe it or not, The Internet was relatively news 33-years-ago and ever since, 24/7 news cycles has destroyed our critical thinking skills and replaced them with biased, knee-jerk conclusions.
I’ve been saying for years that the safety of children is a parental responsibility, not a state one. My reasoning being that all government at every level screws up and over-complicates each and every single issue they ever address. And for the life of me, I cannot think of a single problem the government has ever solved. Even if they had, I’d bet my last dollar that their “solution” just created more problems in its place.
Of course, many think I’m the idiot for thinking like that. And yet, no one on that thought train can explain how government officials at all levels with such a dismal history somehow got it right with child safety. Not to mention the research that shows their policies are ineffective at best, though more often detrimental. Or how the “solutions” to the problems caused by said policies are repeats of the same demonstrably failed ones.