29-year old Desmond Hatchett may be a minimum wage worker, but he sure does get around.

Huffington Post reports that the Knoxville Tennessee native was recently in court:

…. where he appeared on the docket eleven times to answer for 15 of his 21 children [by at least 11 different mothers] who haven’t received child support recently. The mothers of Hatchett’s children are supposed to get anywhere from $25 to $309 a month, but the government is only allowed to take up to 50% of his pay check, and when that’s split so many times some women only get a $1.98 a month ….

“I had four kids in the same year. Twice.” Hatchett says.

Here’s a man who makes Travis Henry look restrained. Perhaps the most disturbing angle on this story, however, is the discussion at sodahead.com, asking whether the presumably smooth talking Mr. Hatchett should be forcibly sterilized. Carolyn G comments:

Castration is too good for this creature. A vasectomy is simple enough, and to be desired if castration isn’t possible.

Kaldaddy1 added:

Why take any chances? Remove the whole damned sack…

There is of course a superficial appeal to such focused coercive measures when viewed in a vaccum. Ultimately, Hatchett and the women he procreates with do of course cost society money, especially since many of them are apparently on welfare. Anyone who has read about eugenics, or Nazi sterilization policies, or even seen the movie Judgment At Nuremburg, however, should be troubled by the casual stupidity of many of the comments so easily solicited by this site.

Bumper stickers proclaim “Freedom Isn’t Free” as gratitude towards the armed forces, rooted in the heroism in places like Anzio and Iwo Jima. But there are more subtle costs to freedom as well. The 1st Amendment protects the views of racists like Thomas Pappas – at least according to Supreme Court nominee Sonya Sotomajor. And let’s not forget that one of the freedoms our soldiers fought for back at places like Omaha Beach was the right to not have the Nazi or any other government decide what races or classes are worthy of reproduction.

None of this means that Desmond or anyone else should be exempt from the consequences of their actions. Contempt rulings, fines and even jail time are often appropriate to absentee fathers who shirk their child support. Let’s just remember not to take the rhetoric too far. The values we have previously fought for are worth preserving. And with the spectre of genetic engineering on the fast-approaching horizon, an appreciation for the ugly history of eugenics is more important than ever.