September 16th, 2018 11:13 AM
—“Are you in favor of arranged marriages? I am, but I would love to hear your take”— Erik Lukovsky
[N]o, because I am not in favor of selling children into slavery for money which is what occurs all too often. What I prefer is veto of proposal on grounds of insufficient demonstration of compatibility and merit to produce a home, income, and support of children for those under a certain age. I am also in favor of parental monetary contribution to setting up a household and the near elimination of the marriage ‘celebration’ entirely, which has become an absurd debt with which to start a family. via-negativa in all things. There are too many malincentives at present: delayed childhood and its suppression of socialization and mating rituals. Delayed childhood and it’s suppression of work experience in the service of others, and work experience in the generation of trades. The deprivation of the young from income from labor such that they accumulate demand for consumption during the period where they wish to do the most exploration and signaling and mating rituals. The issue of credit to the young who then indebt themselves. the issue of debilitating student loans to the young who then further indebt themselves, the combination of which is to spend the most fertile years at play rather than familial production. The issue of housing interest such that it is almost impossible to pay for a home within the first generation of children, thereby freeing the parents to assist the next generation and save for retirement once the children are grown. The issue of high taxation such that two incomes are necessary for the production of a household, rather than a second income for the purpose of extra entertainment and socialization. Other people’s engagement is the optimum consumer good. The problem is sortition such that we can engage peers, and separate from inhibitors to our socialization.