… except the government bans raw milk…

Actually, that varies by state, I think. There’s a farm outlet store where I live, where you can buy raw milk, clearly labeled as such. There’s probably special licensing involved, and the dairy facility still has to meet FDA standards.

I understand it’s satire, but I, for one, will be forever grateful that the state and federal governments “restrict” a parent’s freedom to raise their child as they see fit.

You see, a couple of years ago, in a moment of inattentiveness, I ran a red light and T-boned a car crossing the junction while going 30mph. The other driver jumped out of his car crying “My baby! My baby!” and ran around to the side of his car that I had hit and opened the rear passenger door. It was probably the worst moment of my life, until he retrieved his 12 month old without a scratch on her.

If I had done this 20 years ago, I would probably have had that child’s blood on my hands, but thankfully, because of the state laws requiring babies and young children to be secured in federally regulated child safety seats, she escaped unharmed. (Not to mention other federally regulated safety features like crumple zones, roll cages, fire prevention measures, etc. that allowed me to escape unscathed too.)

Now clearly there is such a thing as over-regulation, but except in a few highly publicized circumstances, this does not happen in the US, and is unlikely to happen. In fact, many child safety experts still believe we do too little — especially in comparison with many European countries. It’s all very well to rely on the attentiveness of parents to keep their own children safe, but that doesn’t help the children whose parent don’t or can’t do it.

Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater, so to speak.