Until the mid 1800’s there were no age of consent laws. They came in as part of a legal response to the factory abuses of child workers in an industrializing society.
As for what I’d like, I would like each child to have two parents who cared about the child and carefully educated their child.
I am not sure how government can participate in child raising. So far, its efforts have been prohibitively expensive and generally counter-productive.
You raised a central question regarding protecting children from evil. Florida (and probably other states) have tried government and it has been an expensive, intrusive failure.
Evil, like liberty must be dealt with with eternal vigilance. Be on the lookout for evil, and be eternally suspicious of all who are your public servants, as it is the nature of servants to steal.
I posed these question because America has a child abuse industry which produces more abuse than it prevents, laws regarding children which clearly do not protect the children the laws were supposed to protect or deter abusers.
In case I didn’t make my self clear, the entire Florida Child Protection System was found to have more abuse being visited upon the children in state custody than when they were not in said state custody.
The failure is systemic and seemingly unfixable. Perhaps we must accept the reality that parents are the only viable option, and accept the possibility that some parents are horrid, destructive people who do horrid and destructive things to children.
I am sorry if I am the bearer of bad news about a failed system, but that is just what is.
Hopefully, the FR community may be able to come up with some ideas. Waiting for government to deal with this issue is like waiting for Godot.
And, I didn’t bring lunch.
At least, I hope the question of what to do about our failed child protection services will grow legs and produce some viable answers.
Actually age of consent laws were first codified in England in the 13th century, they have been part of English Common Law ever since and were the law in the American colonies.
You raised a central question regarding protecting children from evil. Florida (and probably other states) have tried government and it has been an expensive, intrusive failure.
That's like saying the laws against murder are failures because people are still murdered.
I posed these question because America has a child abuse industry which produces more abuse than it prevents,
And your proof of this is what exactly?
Hopefully, the FR community may be able to come up with some ideas.
Perhaps getting rid of anarchists.