RE: Question 1: Pre-school support

Many of the ideas in the MP (and in this exchange) are initially appealing, but the overall thrust makes me very very scared.

What the MP essentially says is that many parents are inadequate, and that the state has a better shot at raising their children "right". To support its position, the MP cites research and data showing the damage and cost of inadequate health care, inadequate parenting, and the effects of low parental income on the child. It is beyond my abilities to affirm the veracity the research and the data -- I assume others will do that -- so I will accept the factual aspects of this argument for now.

The "voluntary" aspect of all this is intended to make it acceptable. Wasn't elementary education voluntary some years ago? Until it stopped being that. Wasn't secondary education voluntary in the past? State's interest and involvement tends to increase monotonically, and it is a safe bet that once the framework and infrastructure for such involvement is established, the pressure will increase over time to initially include -- and later coerce -- larger segments of infants into it. The "voluntary" arguments will start around themes like "you wouldn't want to put your child at disadvantage, would you?" and devolve into "you are an inadequate parent as documented by ..., therefore..."

Yes, we do need to provide free infant/child immunization and health care services - let's try to make them available either indiscriminately or through means-tested system. Weak groups would be helped by pre-school help? Make vouchers for it available through means-tested system. But let us stay away from state-provided infant indoctrination!