1/18/22, 6:35 AM Column: California should abolish parenthood, in the name of equity

COLUMNISTS  |  Opinion This piece expresses the views of its author(s), separate from those of this publication.

Column: California should abolish

parenthood, in the name of equity
Joe Mathews Zócalo Public Square
Published 1:17 p.m. ET Jan. 13, 2022

If California is ever going to achieve true equity, the state must require parents to give away
their children.

Today’s Californians often hold up equity — the goal of a just society completely free from bias
— as our greatest value. Gov. Gavin Newsom makes decisions through “an equity lens.”
Institutions from dance ensembles to tech companies have publicly pledged themselves to
equity.

But their promises are no match for the power of parents.

Fathers and mothers with greater wealth and education are more likely to transfer these
advantages to their children, compounding privilege over generations. As a result, children of
less advantaged parents face an uphill struggle, social mobility has stalled, and democracy has
been corrupted. More Californians are abandoning the dream; a recent Public Policy Institute
of California poll found declining belief in the notion that you can get ahead through hard
work.

My solution — making raising your own children illegal — is simple, and while we wait for the
legislation to pass, we can act now: the rich and poor should trade kids, and homeowners
might swap children with their homeless neighbors.

Now, I recognize that some naysayers will dismiss such a policy as ghastly, even totalitarian.
But my proposal is quite modest, a fusion of traditional philosophy and today’s most common
political obsessions.

In his “Republic,” Plato adopted Socrates’ sage advice — that children “be possessed in
common, so that no parent will know his own offspring or any child his parents” — in order to
defeat nepotism, and create citizens loyal not to their sons but to society.

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1/18/22, 6:35 AM Column: California should abolish parenthood, in the name of equity

Today, a policy of universal orphanhood aligns with powerful social trends that point to less
interest in family. Californians are slower to marry, and are having fewer children — our birth
rate is at an all-time low.

My proposal also should be politically unifying, fitting hand-in-glove with the most cherished
policies of progressives and Trumpians alike.

The left’s introduction of anti-racism and gender identity in schools faces a bitter backlash
from parents. Ending parenthood would end the backlash, helping dismantle white supremacy
and outdated gender norms. Democrats also would have the opportunity to build a new pillar
of the safety net — a child-raising system called “Foster Care for All.”  

Over on the right, Republicans are happy to jettison parents’ rights in pursuit of their greatest
passions, like violating migrant rights. Once you’ve gone so far as to take immigrant children
from their parents and put them in border concentration camps, it’s a short walk to separating
all Americans from their progeny.

Universal orphanhood also dovetails nicely with the pro-life campaign to end abortion rights.
In fact, a suggestion from Justice Amy Coney Barrett, during a recent case that could overturn
Roe, inspired this column. She posited that abortion rights are no longer necessary because all
50 states now have “safe haven” laws allowing women to turn their babies over to authorities
after birth. My proposal would merely make mandatory such handovers of babies to the state.

Perhaps such coercion sounds dystopian. But just imagine the solidarity that universal
orphanhood would create. Wouldn’t children, raised in one system, find it easier to collaborate
on global problems?

Now, I don’t expect universal support for universal orphanhood. A few contrarians, lost in the
empty chasm between American extremes, might object to this rational proposal on emotional
grounds. They might argue that pursuing your own conception of family is fundamental to
freedom.

They also may suggest that people don’t really want to start or finish at the same point in life.

They may even say that what we really desire is what the title orphan of the musical Annie
demanded: “I didn’t want to be just another orphan, Mr. Warbucks. I wanted to believe I was
special.”

But don’t pay those critics any mind. Because they just can’t see how our relentless pursuit of
equity might birth a brave new world.
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1/18/22, 6:35 AM Column: California should abolish parenthood, in the name of equity

Joe Mathews writes the Connecting California column for Zócalo Public Square.

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