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Large businesses have the biggest lobbying groups so their agendas get the most attention, though editorial campaigns, laws, etc. There are a few groups concer

Large businesses have the biggest lobbying groups so their agendas get the most attention, though editorial campaigns, laws, etc. There are a few groups concerned with personal freedom, and so personal freedom is not forgotten, but is deprioritized over what business wants. Children have almost no advocates I would argue. The only people lobbying "on their behalf" are trying to gain power in some way, using fear, etc (similar tactics are used to restrict business and personal feedom). So it's no surprise kids get the short end of the stick.

jrochkind1 5y ago
Why don't large businesses want children walking to the park by themselves? What's the large business interest here?
- quadrangle 5y ago
  I think the argument in this case is simply that there isn't a business interest in getting kids to go to the park themselves, so it just doesn't get the attention that business-interest issues do. But we could also describe how kids being independent and walking to the park bypasses all the market activity they could be doing otherwise: social media, video games, other commercial activities, etc. But that's not the primary argument.
- bitcurious 5y ago
  I don’t know if any business has actively engaged in that sort of lobbying, but if I had to imagine a business interest it would be from schools, daycare, tutoring centers, sports programs, etc. If kids can’t be alone, they have to be with someone. A case where we do have evidence of lobbying is remote schooling, where the education and well-being of children was sacrificed for the well-being of union affiliated teachers.
- closeparen 5y ago
  A number of malls and small retail stores have policies banning or severely limiting unaccompanied minors. The idea is minors are disproportionately likely to cause disturbances. Even if that risk is very small, it’s not really worth accepting any amount of risk there, because minors don’t really spend money either.
quadrangle 5y ago
Indeed. But note that there's a ton of personal-freedom rhetoric in our world. However, it exists primarily entirely in the form of propaganda that serves the interests of bigger lobbying groups. Personal freedom in that sense matters when it's the freedom to be a consumer in the market buying the products that the business wants to sell. The personal freedoms that have nothing to do with the market or which enable people to function outside of the market, those are indeed deprioritized.

jrochkind1 5y ago

Why don't large businesses want children walking to the park by themselves? What's the large business interest here?

quadrangle 5y ago
I think the argument in this case is simply that there isn't a business interest in getting kids to go to the park themselves, so it just doesn't get the attention that business-interest issues do. But we could also describe how kids being independent and walking to the park bypasses all the market activity they could be doing otherwise: social media, video games, other commercial activities, etc. But that's not the primary argument.
bitcurious 5y ago
I don’t know if any business has actively engaged in that sort of lobbying, but if I had to imagine a business interest it would be from schools, daycare, tutoring centers, sports programs, etc. If kids can’t be alone, they have to be with someone. A case where we do have evidence of lobbying is remote schooling, where the education and well-being of children was sacrificed for the well-being of union affiliated teachers.
closeparen 5y ago
A number of malls and small retail stores have policies banning or severely limiting unaccompanied minors. The idea is minors are disproportionately likely to cause disturbances. Even if that risk is very small, it’s not really worth accepting any amount of risk there, because minors don’t really spend money either.

quadrangle 5y ago

Indeed. But note that there's a ton of personal-freedom rhetoric in our world. However, it exists primarily entirely in the form of propaganda that serves the interests of bigger lobbying groups. Personal freedom in that sense matters when it's the freedom to be a consumer in the market buying the products that the business wants to sell. The personal freedoms that have nothing to do with the market or which enable people to function outside of the market, those are indeed deprioritized.