...if you breed it you must feed it...

Here's a thought. If you can't afford to have a child, and all that goes with it -- feeding it, clothing it, taking it to the doctor's, the dentist's, the eye doctor's, buying it school supplies, starting a college nest egg -- here's a novel idea: DON'T HAVE CHILDREN. Do you ever wonder how many bills have been passed to "protect" children all because parents can't do the jobs themselves? When is enough, enough? As a taxpayer, aren't you tired of your money going to irresponsible breeders? (And I'm not talking about parents whose main problem is they can't afford healthcare for their children. Equal and affordable access to healthcare is a whole other problem our government stubbornly ignores with the willfullness of a 3 year old.) I'm talking about single mothers, those who struggle paycheck to paycheck, those with low-paying jobs or no job who get pregnant and *then* wonder how they're going to support the child (if they think about that at all).

I say bring back the stigma of getting pregnant outside of wedlock at a young age. Bring back the stigma of needing public assistance. Maybe a little shame is a good thing if it keeps people from repeatedly feeding from the public trough. It's one thing to need assistance when you fall on hard times. No one can plan for a catastrophic illness or accident, or suddenly losing your job. You can and SHOULD plan to have and raise children. Considering the rate of population increase, just in this country alone in the last 30 years, apparently people give as much thought to reproduction as they do to defecation, which is damned little. I've grown weary of my taxes going up faster than a helium balloon to support or extend or create social programs for people who don't know any better and never will or just don't care.

And for those people in favor of their taxes being used for social assistance programs, that's great! Have at it. But let it be an individual taxpayer decision.