#164: Licence to Breed?

purinkle

purinkle

TNPer
Does anyone have any inkling as to how each decision would affect my nation?

The Issue
Increasing reports of child abuse and neglect in @@NAME@@ has prompted local pressure groups to call for "parental licences".

The Debate
1. "You need a licence to keep @@ANIMAL@@s or drive a car," points out local current affairs commentator, @@RANDOMNAME@@. "So why should just any random idiot get to be a mother or father? It just doesn't make sense! If all potential parents had to pass tests to prove they're responsible enough, I'm sure you'd find that it would help decrease the level of child abuse, and increase proper discipline in the home."

2. "This is madness!" screams @@RANDOMNAME@@. "You can't deny perfectly good people the right to bring life into this world! @@ANIMAL@@s manage it easily enough, and you can't tell me they've got more responsibility than your average upstanding citizen of @@NAME@@! The government should keep out of such matters - I've always said social workers and welfare was a drain on the budget. Yes, there will be some sad cases of neglect, but shouldn't we be giving parents the benefit of the doubt?"

3. "The answer to this problem is patently obvious," says @@RANDOMNAME@@, your minister of Social Welfare. "The government simply needs to give more funding to the welfare department so that we can recruit more social workers to carry out regular checks on parents and judge whether or not they're doing a good job of looking after their children. It'll be expensive, but at least it's a damn sight fairer than licensing parents."
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1. I am not certain of at all. I imagine it would have a similar effect to the issue which allows corporal punishment in schools. Logically it would lower the rate of population growth, but I don't think issues affect the basic NS mechanics like that.

2. Would drastically cut your government spending, esp. on social welfare programs.

3. Would dramatically raise government spending, esp. on social welfare programs, and taxes.


Most issues seem to be a straight up/down on a certain area of government funding, with a designated 'wild card' or two. The wild card is usually the last option, prefaced with a "let's not be crazy here" and then some poorly-written joke about an 'absurd' option, the more absurd and non sequitor the 'better'. On this issue, however, the wild card is the first option presented and the main paragraph & title lead up to that; I'm not sure if this is because the original author could not think of a better way to craft the punchline in there, or if the author is a genius and we should be grateful he is not attempting to suck (like so many other issues writers).
 
I spoke to Erastide over at the Jolt forum and they gave me this response:

These are the text outcomes on your nation, you can kind of infer possible consequences to your people from them and the issue choices.

1. citizens wishing to be parents must undertake a series of gruelling tests to evaluate their capabilities
2. almost half of the child population live rough on the streets
3. welfare funding has recently gone through the roof
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