[DRAFT] The Poster Child Policy

[Electrum]

An issue based on the practicalities of implementing a one-child policy. Inspired by Jutsa's issue idea on how to send garbage into space. If this gets accepted, I do intend to write a follow-up issue on demographic issues/reversing the one-child policy.

3rd Draft

ISSUE: The Poster Child Policy

[desc] Birth rates remain high despite the government's announcement of the one-child policy. Experts have been brought in to suggest how the policy can be designed to incentivise parents to have just one child.
[validity] one-child policy (136.4, 638.4) and abortion enabled, or answered option 1 in the prequel policy, comes immediately, no vat infants policy

[option] "You should be compassionate," suggests chief demographer @@RANDOMNAME@@, who is wearing an 'I lost my senses doing the census' tee. "The government should provide generous benefits such as a monthly subsidy, fast-tracked promotions, and generous tax incentives for parents who stick to having one child. Also, parents should be allowed to access exemptions to have more than one child, such as if they're indigenous, or if the first child is disabled."
[effect] families plan eighteen year gaps between siblings

[option] "That's going to blow a hole in our budget," objects economist @@RANDOMNAME@@, simulating the effect on the @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ economy on a political simulator. "Instead, you should sanction massive fines for all children after the first - five years average salary should do the trick - and make parents pay to access services such as health and education for any unauthorised children. That way, parents will understand how costly a second child is to society, and we will be able to fill up our coffers from rich families that have the funds to look after multiple children."
[effect] you're considered rich if you have a sibling

[option] "No exceptions, no excuses!" demands @@RANDOMNAME@@, the head of Malthusian Elders Against Neonates In Enlightened Societies. "Our country's future is at stake here, we cannot afford @@NAME@@ being overrun by disgusting snot-nosed children. Have population control officers roam the streets to administer pregnancy tests on anyone suspected of being pregnant with an unauthorised child. If the test comes back positive, force the mother to undergo a dual abortion-sterilisation procedure. It's tough, but it's the only way to ensure complete compliance of the one-child policy."
[effect] being pulled over for a pregnancy test is a sign to go on a diet

[option]"Sexual reproduction is overrated," claims an Aldoustani vat technician who's never known the meaning of true love. "Why become reliant on mixing DNA to create the next generation of @@DEMONYMPLURAL@@ when you can grow perfect babies in a vat? There's no need to worry about the design of a one-child policy because you can set quotas on infant production. You will, however, need to sterilise every single man, woman and child in @@NAME@@ to ensure that the by-products of 'making whoopee' don't ruin your population growth forecasts."
[effect] love no longer conquers all
[policy] adds the 'vat-produced infants' policy

2nd Draft

ISSUE: Implementing the Government's Poster Child Policy

[desc] With the government recently enacting the one-child policy, experts have come to you with ideas concerning the design of the one-child policy to ensure its success.
[validity] one-child policy (136.4, 638.4), no vat infants policy

[option] "If you're going to go down this road, you should at least be compassionate," suggests chief demographer @@RANDOMNAME@@, who is wearing an 'I lost my senses doing the census' tee. "The government should provide a monthly subsidy for families who continue to maintain one child, and allow parents to access exemptions to have more than one child, such as if their first child is disabled. After all, my mother always says that you can always catch more @@ANIMALPLURAL@@ with honey than you can with vinegar."
[effect] families plan eighteen year gaps between siblings

[option] "That's going to be a massive drain on our finances," interjects economist @@RANDOMNAME@@, simulating the effect on the @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ economy on a political simulator. "A monthly subsidy is going to blow a hole in our budget. Instead, you should sanction massive fines for anyone that has a second child - five years average salary should do the trick - and make parents pay to access services such as health and education for any unauthorised children. That way, parents will understand how costly a second child is to society, and we can be assured that any excess children will come from families with the funds to look after them."
[effect] you're considered rich if you have a sibling

[option] "No exceptions, no excuses!" demands @@RANDOMNAME@@, the head of Malthusian Elders Against Neonates In Enlightened Societies. "Our country's future is at stake here, we cannot afford @@NAME@@ being overrun by disgusting snot-nosed children. Have population control officers roam the streets to administer pregnancy tests on anyone suspected of being pregnant with an unauthorised child. If the test comes back positive, force the mother to undergo an abortion. It's tough, but it's the only way to ensure complete compliance of the one-child policy."
[effect] being pulled over for a pregnancy test is a sign to go on a diet
[policy] repeals 'no abortion' policies

[option]"Sexual reproduction is overrated," claims a foreign vat technician who's never known the meaning of true love. "Don't you think it's a bit unrealistic to regulate the by-products of a biological process? Population management's a breeze where I'm from because the production of new infants can always be adjusted. Sterilise every single man, woman and child in @@NAME@@ and proclaim that all new children will be made in vats. Why, you could even reward your most loyal followers with vat-produced infants of their very own!"
[effect] love no longer conquers all
[policy] adds the 'vat-produced infants' policy

ISSUE: Implementing the Government's Poster Child Policy

[desc] The government recently implemented a one child policy, however it is proving rather difficult restricting a biological process.
[validity] one child policy (136.4, 638.4), no vat infants

[option] "If you're going to go down this road, you should at least be compassionate," suggests chief demographer @@RANDOMNAME@@, who is wearing an 'I lost my senses doing the census' t-shirt. "The government should provide a monthly subsidy for families who continue to maintain one child, and allow parents to have access to exceptions to have more than one child, such as if their first is disabled. After all, we @@DEMONYMPLURAL@@ always say that you catch more @@ANIMALPLURAL@@ with honey than you do with vinegar."
[effect] it's common to hear @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ families planning to wait eighteen years to have their second child

[option] "That's going to be a massive drain on our finances," interjects economist @@RANDOMNAME@@, simulating @@NAME@@ on an online political simulator. "Giving each and every one child family money every month is going to blow a hole in our budget. Instead, you should enact massive fines for anyone that has a second child - three years average salary should do the trick - and make parents pay to access services such as health and education for any unauthorised children. That way parents will understand how costly a second child is to society, and we can be assured that any excess children will come from families with the funds to look after them."
[effect] rich @@DEMONYMADJDECTIVE@@ families know they've made it when they have more than one child

[option] "No exceptions, no excuses!" demands @@RANDOMNAME@@, the head of Malthusian Elders Against Neonates In Enlightened Societies. "Our country's future is at stake here, we cannot afford @@NAME@@ being overrun by disgusting snot-nosed children. Have population control officers administer pregnancy tests to anyone suspected of having an unauthorised child, and if the tests come back positive, force the mothers to undergo an abortion. It's tough, but it's the only way to ensure complete compliance of the one child policy."
[effect] being pulled over for a pregnancy test is a sign for @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ women to diet
[policy] adds abortion as a policy if not already one

[option]"Sexual reproduction is overrated," claims a foreign vat technician who's never known the meaning of true love. "You must ensure that we sterilise every single man, woman and child in @@NAME@@, and outlaw the mixing of DNA in favour of vat-produced infants. Population management's going to be a breeze - all you need to do is adjust how many of them are made each year. And, you can even reward your most loyal followers with their very own baby!"
[effect] love no longer conquers all
[validity] must not be a vat-only society
[policy] adds vat-produced infants as a policy, no longer able to choose one child policy-related options

[SherpDaWerp]

The government recently implemented a one child policy, however it is proving rather difficult restricting a biological process.

Very brief description, although it does work. The latter half of the sentence should be re-worded to flow better and/or sound more natural.

we @@DEMONYMPLURAL@@ always say that you catch more @@ANIMALPLURAL@@ with honey than you do with vinegar.

We do? Perhaps this should be a familial saying (i.e. "my mother always used to say") or a personal saying (i.e. "as I always say"), rather than a national saying.

it's common to hear @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ families planning to wait eighteen years to have their second child

All the words you saved in the description have ended up here... See if you can cut some words out of your effect lines.

massive fines for anyone that has a second child - three years average salary should do the trick -

Kudos for working in a non-specific value here in a way that works very well.

rich @@DEMONYMADJDECTIVE@@ families know they've made it when they have more than one child

Same deal here. Note that you can drop the @@DEMONYMADJECTIVE@@ both times without losing anything from the effect line.

"No exceptions, no excuses!" demands @@RANDOMNAME@@, the head of Malthusian Elders Against Neonates In Enlightened Societies. "Our country's future is at stake here, we cannot afford @@NAME@@ being overrun by disgusting snot-nosed children. Have population control officers administer pregnancy tests to anyone suspected of having an unauthorised child, and if the tests come back positive, force the mothers to undergo an abortion. It's tough, but it's the only way to ensure complete compliance of the one child policy."

It might be worth validity-locking this option, or at least doppelgangering it. Nations with restrictive abortion policies would be less likely to see someone talk about them with such a cavalier attitude.

"Sexual reproduction is overrated," claims a foreign vat technician who's never known the meaning of true love. "You must ensure that we sterilise every single man, woman and child in @@NAME@@, and outlaw the mixing of DNA in favour of vat infants. Population management's going to be a breeze - all you need to do is adjust how many vat infants are produced every year - no need to worry about the one child policy. And, what's great is that you can reward your most loyal followers with vat infants!"

You say "vat infants" 3 times in this option, and it starts to sound odd - try to replace some of them with alternative words.

[Electrum]

I agree Sherp, those issues were very glaring once I had a second read-over during my lunch break earlier today.

I've simplified the wording and tried to clean up the awkward expression. I've not done a doppelganger for the third option because it's unnecessary. If the country wanted a one-child policy, then it wouldn't make sense to be conservative on abortion rights.

[Ko-oren]

Fun issue about the practicalities behind the policy. The term 'vat infants' stays weird to me even after reading the issue, though. Is there really no better term for this? Test tube babies? (Also, what about surrogacy? A mother carrying a child for another family, or adoption? I don't think this should all be in the issue, because there's no sense having 6 options, but they are things you'd run into while designing the policy)

If this makes it, I'd be willing to write a eugenics issue based on option 4.

[Trotterdam]

[option] "If you're going to go down this road, you should at least be compassionate," suggests chief demographer @@RANDOMNAME@@, who is wearing an 'I lost my senses doing the census' tee. "The government should provide a monthly subsidy for families who continue to maintain one child, and allow parents to access exemptions to have more than one child, such as if their first child is disabled. After all, my mother always says that you can always catch more @@ANIMALPLURAL@@ with honey than you can with vinegar."

The problem is that this by itself isn't going to dissuade prospective parents who are already rich enough to not need the subsidies. As a supplement to another method, sure, this might be a good idea (but then we already have issues about government childcare), but by itself this isn't going to be enough.

Another logical supplement to add to both options 2 and 3 is to have the government cover the costs having abortions, but then I guess that's why you didn't include it, because it's so obvious that it isn't really a choice and you'd likely want it on both, but you still need to choose what else to do.

a foreign vat technician who's never known the meaning of true love

You can be more specific than just "foreign". Aldoustan has been established as the NPC nation that uses vats. Well, is there room for more than one?

If the country wanted a one-child policy, then it wouldn't make sense to be conservative on abortion rights.

It doesn't make sense, though a nation having both policies could warrant a "what the hell are you doing?" type issue similar to the one for nations trying to run a space program without computers.

(Also, what about surrogacy? A mother carrying a child for another family, or adoption? I don't think this should all be in the issue, because there's no sense having 6 options, but they are things you'd run into while designing the policy)

"Unlear how this policy applies in some specific edge case" is the kind of thing that can warrant an issue all of its own.

If this makes it, I'd be willing to write a eugenics issue based on option 4.

Already exists.

[Electrum]

Changes implemented, thanks Trotterdam. Option 1 has been made more generous. I will have a think as to how to implement an option for countries with no abortion.

I should explain that basically all of the options represent the different ways that Chinese provinces have implemented the one-child policy. Well. Except the vat-produced infants option.

[Australian rePublic]

You're missing an option, immediate steralisation after pregnancy. Not sure how that will work with twins or death infants, but hey...

[Electrum]

You're missing an option, immediate steralisation after pregnancy. Not sure how that will work with twins or death infants, but hey...

I was reluctant to do that because of the edge-case scenario of a lady getting a divorce and wanting to start a new family with a new husband, but that's precisely the thing that meanies would advocate for, so added.

[Australian rePublic]

You're missing an option, immediate steralisation after pregnancy. Not sure how that will work with twins or death infants, but hey...

I was reluctant to do that because of the edge-case scenario of a lady getting a divorce and wanting to start a new family with a new husband, but that's precisely the thing that meanies would advocate for, so added.

I don't know how true it is, but I've heard that in IRL China, there was apparently a man who married a divorced woman, but because he had already had a baby in his previous marriage, she wasn't allowed to have any kids

[Trotterdam]

How to deal with a one-child policy in the case of divorce (and children outside of marriage, etc.) can be an issue of its own (options including "one child per mother", "one child per father", "depends on who got custody after the divorce", and "neither of you can ever have another child, so there"), but isn't really an important sticking point here. Same goes for Ko-oren's mention of surrogacy and adoption. Generally you decide on your general rule first and then worry about edge cases later.

[Jutsa]

How to deal with a one-child policy in the case of divorce

Oh, I like this idea.

Note: No bearing on this draft, I think this one works beautifully as-is. Definitely still another candidate issue idea to work on one day, though.

[Candlewhisper Archive]

The premise of "you've enacted this policy, how do you want to enact it?" doesn't work for me. Implementing your grand sweeping decisions is the job of the civil service or equivalent bureaucracy. Your job is to make those decisions.

Instead, a good consequence issue should pick out one aspect or result of the decision made, and ask for a decision on that.

For example an issue could ask...

If you have a one child policy, what do you do about twin pregnancies?

Basically, take the decision somewhere previously uncovered, rather than just asking "what' next?"