Worth keeping in mind when people couple demands to increase the scope of government with assurances that they will reduce its bureaucratic nature.

On the topic of family cohesion and the emotional attachment of parents to children, there is interesting research on animal models. There are two species of small burrowing mammals. Once has very close bonding with the mother of the pups, the other has much less intense mothering behavior. There seems to be several hormones involved and the research is making some progress in the understanding of autism and milder forms of social behavior disorders.

This is a basic introduction to the work but it has expanded in recent years. The most promising is the etiology and treatment of autism. It has been tried in mild conditions similar to Asberger’s Syndrome. There may be some biologic reason for antisocial behavior, especially in males. It’s conceivable that behavior affects these hormones, such as cuddling or physical contact. Maybe there is even a link to the crime statistics in Superfreakanomics where early introduction to television led to increased crime rates. Physical contact may affect biology.

For the moment, let me define “the civil service mentality” as the idea that all things can be done by following clearly-defined procedures, without the need for inspiration and passion. (I say “for the moment” because I know this definition is unfair to many real civil servants, who *do* pursue their jobs with inspiration and passion…but I can’t think of a better term to capture what I mean.)

The truth is, without passion and inspiration, *all* types of activity eventually grind to a halt…whether it’s making steel or writing computer software or growing crops.

I think academics, in particular, tend to think that inspiration and passion are limited to their domain and to the adjacent ones (writing, media, etc), and that the remainder of society and the economy can safely be organized on a civil-service basis. They couldn’t be more wrong.

I’d amend this to: It is in the nature of a father, himself properly reared, to love his child. Unfortunately there are far to many “fathers” who are more truly sperm donors. And no father, no family, if not in all cases far too many, until a critical mass is reached. Some groups in our population have reached that critical mass and others are well on the way.

I’ll admit to being old and old fashioned. It seems like only yesterday the Coleman Report was released.