For DECADES, the family was the basic social unit. It wasn't perfect, but the family -lead by parents concerned for their children - worked exceptionally well as a learning AND social unit. In this context, Mom and Dad worked like mad to provide for and protect the kids..."don't talk to strangers"..."we have curtains because it's nobody's business what goes on in here"..."sex Ed? You will be out "sick" that day and we will go out to the range."
Johnny and Mary grew up, avoided (and maybe mocked) the radicals on campus, started their own family, and repeated their parents' denial of societal preying. The times changed but the message was the same - "if the doctor asks if we have a gun, tell him no (it's not a lie because we have twelve) and I'll find a new doctor."
Somewhere along the line (I think it was with societal acceptance of divorce), that morphed into It Takes A Village. The parents succumbed and we lost an intergenerational transfer of a GFY mindset when it came to outsider influence in the family. Now, instead of a kid wiping out on his bike and Dad telling the kid "go show your mother those cuts and scrapes and she'll fix it up" we get a child with a paper cut and "we must go to the ER."
Experts rule the home....nutritionists, child psychologists, family counselor, anti-anxiety meds (for junior and Dad, if he hasn't abandoned the family). And most of all, the clergy has been replaced by THE DOCTOR.
Now, 80MM+ Trump voters tell us that the individualism mindset IS alive and well. But an increasing number of centrists have succumbed to the siren song of collectivism. Public school is good, because it provides daycare while Mom holds three jobs. But if Johnny doesn't get the messenger RNA shot, he isn't allowed in school. It's easy to see what Mom is gonna do.
I'm prayerful that centrists wake up, and seek out that in-tact but "nutty" homeschooling family that never answers the phone when an unknown number calls, never answers the door for strangers, and ignores pollsters with clipboards at the Mall...but they have massive Christmas parties AND their kids aren't messed up, and they're not on Facebook...Whatsupwiththat?...
Until then, 4-in-10 parents hitting the pause button on their child being part of a clinical trial is about as good as it's gonna get.
Well-stated. I’ve written about that as well, but not in such detail. The only thing I’d argue against in your comment is with my own historical observations:
The nature of that effect appears to be almost exclusively with non-Conservative parents.
“Almost.”