Re: uk-policy Third way - Aspiration: too little or too m...-Reply

cheryl (cheryl@fosters.demon.co.uk)
Thu, 21 May 1998 14:27:10 +0100 (BST)

>
>Steve wrote: "it seems worth being relatively clear what behavior we
>would like to see the welfare state encourage, even if we aren't
>willing to make it mandatory."
>
>FYI - In the New Progressive Declaration we state: "(We) favor vigorous
>public and private efforts to reinforce the norms of marriage and family
>and to put responsibility for nurturing children ahead of abstract
>concerns over the parents' rights."
>

I fail to see how parent's rights are at all abstract, or indeed why
they should be (a) de-prioritised (b) separated from the nurture of
their own children. It is my opinion that whether the government
encourages or makes mandatory any type of personal/private behaviour, it
oversteps its bounds. If the third way represents an attempt to regulate
family life, or to split the interests of parents from children within
the family, then I vote for a fourth way.

-- 
cheryl hudson

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