Have a Guinness!
Posted on 12/10/2008 8:18:42 AM PST by Alex Murphy
I just recently moved here, about a year and a half ago, came from the Pacific Northwest, and while I did spend some of my working time in the larger cities, I mostly lived in semi-rural areas, timber country or farming country.
Yes, things worked back in the old days when you could get by on one income, and big Catholic families could "afford" to send off one or two children into celibacy for the service of other people's children. But you know that's not the world we live in anymore. Just as often, the giant family is not the well-scrubbed Caucasian family pictured on this thread, but they are ethnic minorities who are often gaming the system in a number of ways.
I'm not just talking about Hispanics, either, we have orthodox Jewish families living near me who send their kids to religious schools, then get themselves on the school boards to throttle down the taxes that go to educate the "goyim" children. It drives me nuts to know that they're getting a dozen child tax credits on what little income they do declare!
My hat's off to the homeschoolers, I will admit that when I got to FR about ten years ago, I shared a lot of the liberals' ideas about homeschooling, but I have been educated about it since.
However, there are other socialized costs. I presume the husband in this family has health insurance through his employer. Well, he's paying the same premiums as the guy at the desk next to him with only two (and perhaps just one) children. Every dentist visit for those eighteen kids is adding up to the expense pool that the employer's rates are based on.
We don't live a frontier lifestyle anymore, where the number of children you had determined how many hands there were to bring in the harvest and that was the end of it, we live in an interconnected world where some people's lifestyle choices and practices, even if Constitutionally defensable are subsidized by others. All I'm asking the big-family people to do is acknowledge that, and perhaps recognize that when they go to protest someone else's lifestyle choice on the grounds that it's costing society money (as in the case of same-sex marriage).
Wouldn't bother me. Congress didn't pass the tax credit because people with 18 children overwhelmed them with their presence in the constituency; people who want things different know who their Congressman is. Large homeschooling families didn't build the government school system, either.
I believe he’s largely, if not entirely self-employed. He’s a real estate agent of some sort, and owns some commercial properties (outright, since they don’t believe in debt). As for putting the kids to work, my understanding is that the older boys did quite of bit of the work of building the family’s relatively new house (also built on a pay-as-you-go basis). I do think the world has a human overpopulation problem, probably in sheer numbers, but definitely in relation to economic infrastructure, but this particular family doesn’t strike me as contributing to the problem nearly as much as the hordes of American welfare addicts and the hordes of third-world people who keep popping out babies even when the ones they’ve already got are literally starving.
When we get very old, thank God the homeschooled children, as adults, will be running our country by then. They’ll be the only ones who can read and write by then. And they are well brought up with love of country and love of our founding fathers and U.S. Constitution.
God bless the Duggar family. (I watch all their t.v. specials) :)
BTW Mr. Duggar also served as a Republican member of the AK state house at one time. ;)
Lady, you rock! Love to see a nice rant now and then. As for education, all the younger moms in my family are home schooling them and losing a lot of income to do so. But then, they see value in a very different manner than others.
Also, their kids have a better shot at winning spelling bees...
;-0)
I gotta contact Anoreth with some new hiding places.
F
If you are interested, please watch the Duggar’s t.v. specials which come on one of those Discovery cable channels. It’s the same channel which has “Jon and Kate plus eight” and “Little People Big World”. These are about large families as well. :)
Anoreth forgets that I’m always looking for bugs, and therefore I always find what’s hidden. (The pets eat the bugs.) She and her Dad are going to Columbia, SC, on Saturday to pick up her new adopted greyhound. This will be our family’s first experience with a dog; it’s a female about 6 years old, said to be tolerant of cats and children. (No word on how it feels about reptiles.)
I’m going to get her a pistol, too.
We could have more income, not to mention fewer expenses, if we didn’t have all these children at home, but I don’t see the point. We have all we need and a lot that we don’t need. We’re as secure as one can be in an insecure world. And we have FRiends like you!
Arkansas = AR.
Have a Guinness!
You will love that greyhound. I’ve seen them to be tolerant and loving dogs; there are several in this area. You do have to run them a lot as they love exercise more than most dogs. I think you found a perfect companion for Momma Tax! Take the dog when you want to relax. It will outrun you!
F
Just as it is none of my business to wonder if the writer even has any interest in the opposite sex at all, if one knows what I mean ...
Gee. Just what would you be trying to say......?
Two years ago, we had one lonely betta in a jar. Now we have two cats, two dragons, two anoles, a snake, a gerbil, and I’m not sure how many fish right now (3 or 4). And the dog arriving tomorrow. We’d better not have to move!
Dunno, I was so subtle I confused myself.
Thanks! It put me right to sleep.
You’re welcome.
You deserved it.
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