[quote=halo]Is it not the job of society and the government to regulate the actions of parents to protect children, the most precious and vulnerable in society? Is it not our job to "box them into a corner", so to speak, by carefully and rigidly defining what is and is not acceptable?[/quote]

Remember that you're asking a quasi-libertarian. No, generally speaking, it is not the government's job to protect children from their parents. [i]There are exceptions to that, jesus, I know of more than one[/i], but broadly, a home is a castle, a family is a unit, and Sam is not an Uncle. If a duty exists to protect children (I would certainly agree), then that duty is not to the government, but to each of us, the citizens, individually. Now I don't generally like it when someone starts an argument with 'Society as a whole needs _____,' but I'm going to break my rule -- [url=http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2253421/1-3-US-children-live-father-according-census-number-parent-households-decreases-1-2-million.html]the family unit is weak enough in our culture[/url]. We don't need another antagonist in the household, least of all one with a government mandate.