No mother doubts
at the bottom of her heart that,
in the child, she has
given birth to a piece of property;

no father questions his right
to subject the child to his own ideas and valuations.
In fact, there was a time
(among the ancient Germans, for instance)
when it seemed fair that the father
should dispose
of the life and death of the newborn
as he saw fit.

And now it is the teacher,
the social class, the priest, and the prince
who, like the father,
see every new person as
an incontrovertible opportunity
for a new possession.

And it follows from this . . .

Beyond Good and Evil, by Friedrich Nietzsche, trans. by Judith Butler, aphorism 194

Nietzsche thinks this attitude of possession is an involuntary trait of the human species. That is, a proclivity beneath the surface of conscious awareness. Parents take possession of children. This control, a right to customize, to mold, has been delegated to educators in more recent times.

Every new person as an incontrovertible (unquestioned) opportunity for …possession!

This chilling, cold-blooded idea negates the sacred status of each person, that every one of us is one-of-a-kind, worthy of respect, care, solicitude. Every individual belongs solely to him/herself…

And yet, and yet, from examination of my personal history Nietzsche’s description of the parent-child relationship holds in my case.

Exactly what does follow from this?

A variety of things must follow. Surely this follows. Among self-defined conservative Americans, there is the undisguised effort to “make America great again”, imagining a failed businessman, as the contemporary “father” of our country. He is their icon of conservative values!

This would be unobjectionable if they did not intend by force to impose this right of possession upon the rest of us.

We, who’d find such possession intolerable.