As a parent who would never concede the natural law authority over my
dependent children to the state (as you apparently would)
Sorry, there is no such thing as "natural law authority." The only laws in nature are survival of the fittest and eat or be eaten.
Domestic relations are socially constructed norms and vary between cultures. The very age of majority (18th birthday) is itself arbitrary, folkloric, and unscientific.
Our goal as libertarians is to discover and promote the proper balance between the sometimes conflicting rights of parents and children so as to maximize the happiness of both. Children, after all, do not choose to be born nor have an opportunity to select their parents!
I also know that not all parents are paragons of wisdom and virtue. For many a teen, 73 would have forced them to choose between going to some judge -- a scary and confusing bureaucratic maze with uncertain outcome, or letting their parents know of the preganacy and risk getting a severe punishment, or worse. How either of those outcomes could contribute to developing into a happy well-adjusted adult one is hard pressed to figure.
Personally I'm writing to those who
put it on the ballot to advise them so it will pass next time.
OK. Well they'd have to change it in a pretty major way to ever get my endorsement.
To me it is obvious what 73 was about: intimidating teens to coerce them to have a child against their own and the child's best interests. This is the usual trick of anti-abortion types: they can't outlaw it directly (yet.. we'll see what Judge Alito does), so they add as many burdensome, expensive, and obnoxious restrictions as possible. If they would have gotten 73 passed they would have been emboldened next time around with parental consent, husband's consent, mandatory counseling, waiting periods, ultrasound, etc, etc.
Can I collect on the appetizers at another event? I can't make this one.
Yes. December's dinner party will include not one but two presentations. I plan to really publicize that event and get a big turnout.
-DG