A Stitch in Haste

Few topics instigate as lively a discussion here as my contempt for Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar of — obviously — Arkansas.

To review: They have, as of yesterday, 17 children (with another on the way and an overtly expressed amenability to having more). Which, somehow, is considered a "warm, happy pre-Mothers-Day story on a morning show" rather than grounds for a child neglect investigation.

For whatever reason (ka-ching!), the Duggars felt a need to whore their kids out on national television yet again. So I felt a need — obviously — to comment on them yet again:

I find it fascinating that the same people who screech from the rooftops that "kids do best with a mother and a father" have no problem with kids being raised with 1/18 of a mother and a father. They'd get more personalized attention at the DMV.

I also wonder how much is in each kid's college fund. Oh wait, they're Evangelical-homeschooled, so college will not be an option. Never mind.

Note also that the older children are conscripted into "chores" that essentially make them full-time surrogate parents. Mowing the lawn and setting the table is one thing; having to serve as a dawn-til-dusk au pair for 10 or more of your younger siblings is child abuse, pure and simple.

The fluff piece shows toddlers packing away groceries and notes that the children must, literally, make appointments in advance to have one-on-one time with Mom. Charming.

There is a point at which "delightful parental love" metastasizes into "decrepit parental narcissism." I certainly don't want to be the one trying to identify that point. I'm reluctant in the extreme to let anyone in the government determine that point as a matter of policy to be imposed on all families in all circumstances.

But I'll be damned if I'm going to pretend that such a point doesn't exist. "I know it when I see it" may be the worst kind of hopelessly sloppy jurisprudence. But it's better than wearing a blindfold.

And did I mention that the Duggars, qua Evangelical Christians, are — obviously — associated with and supportive of rabidly anti-gay bigots?

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For Discussion: The next Stitch in Haste Podcast will be on "The Fourth Amendment in the Non-Criminal Context." I intend to cover two topics: (1) laptop searches at the border, and (2) the FLDS incident in Texas. I would love to know people's thoughts on the latter. Comment away...