The obedience and punishment society starts in the family home

Comment published on New York Times online blog in response to article by Ali Watkins, “She Ran Away From Foster Care. She Ended Up in Handcuffs and Leg Irons,” New York Times, December 6, 2018:

In America, to be a child is like being a worker who must obey, or a prisoner if he does not. Progressive politics redoubles this simply by adding to the mix that infantilizable poor people at least need bosses who care about them. Like a loving God who is primarily a boss or ruler. Conservatives are right about one thing, at least in this country: If you need anything and the government (or, in fact, any private organization) offers you help, it will be coercive.  

None of these things are inevitable and necessary in the nature of things; they only seem to be.