Shauk

I've noticed that it's a common practice for people to cry "strawman" at the earliest given opportunity. It's really just a sign of poor debate skills. I thought it was quite on the nose of assessing your stance on this issue. But to address "Is it your belief that we should remove all choice from the citizenry because they are too stupid to know what is best for them?"

I think the answer is fairly obvious. If someone is too stupid to know what is best for them (for example, intoxicated, and making a decision about driving) then fuck, yes, take the keys away and make the decision for them. Thats part of the education process. It applies here, children are young and dumb, they just are, no matter how good thier grades are and how full of praise thier parents are about "ooooh little Jimmy is sooooo smaaaart!" they are still dumb when it comes down to real life applications in an adult world.

I'm starting to feel like we're pretty much going to have to agree to disagree on all of this, partly because it's all rhetoric, and partly because you referred to children as "citizenry". They aren't 18, they aren't adults, they aren't paying taxes, they aren't old enough to vote, they still fall under the category of governmental liability/non-asset.

anyways, thats my 2 cents