Even before we get to deeper matters, I’ve got to question your enforcement methods. How would you prevent childbirth in unqualified couples? There really aren’t easy, inexpensive, reliable, side-effect-free and reversible methods of preventing pregnancy (IUDs and implants are the most effective, but aren’t tolerated by a non-trivial portion of the populace). Nor do these seem likely to be developed in the near future. Even if they are developed, there are pretty strong social norms involving bodily integrity, especially related to reproduction -- and honestly, I’d hope these norms continue to become stronger. Likewise, there are other norms that seem unlikely to weaken dramatically if we were to discuss, say, forced permanent sterilization, forced abortion, or ripping infants from the grips of tearful mothers.
How would you limit ‘assignment of children to religion’? Does it become illegal for bring a child to church? To pray at home? Even if social norms regarding freedom of religion disappeared overnight, the difficulty of enforcing such a system
is rather severe.
AFR and adoption have strict criteria not a solely as licensing mechanisms, but also because there are high costs and limited supply—a natural limitation. That’s not really the case going the other way around.
At a deeper level, there are some non-intuitive economic reasons that essentially guarantee any entrenched democratically created licensing system undergoes regulatory capture, and serves the interests of licensees rather than those individuals it was made to protect. This system does not have a method for opposing such capture.
Even before we get to deeper matters, I’ve got to question your enforcement methods. How would you prevent childbirth in unqualified couples? There really aren’t easy, inexpensive, reliable, side-effect-free and reversible methods of preventing pregnancy (IUDs and implants are the most effective, but aren’t tolerated by a non-trivial portion of the populace). Nor do these seem likely to be developed in the near future. Even if they are developed, there are pretty strong social norms involving bodily integrity, especially related to reproduction -- and honestly, I’d hope these norms continue to become stronger. Likewise, there are other norms that seem unlikely to weaken dramatically if we were to discuss, say, forced permanent sterilization, forced abortion, or ripping infants from the grips of tearful mothers.
How would you limit ‘assignment of children to religion’? Does it become illegal for bring a child to church? To pray at home? Even if social norms regarding freedom of religion disappeared overnight, the difficulty of enforcing such a system is rather severe.
AFR and adoption have strict criteria not a solely as licensing mechanisms, but also because there are high costs and limited supply—a natural limitation. That’s not really the case going the other way around.
At a deeper level, there are some non-intuitive economic reasons that essentially guarantee any entrenched democratically created licensing system undergoes regulatory capture, and serves the interests of licensees rather than those individuals it was made to protect. This system does not have a method for opposing such capture.