Obviously, I'm Pretty Indignant

Hearing that Mitt Romney's oldest son and his wife just announced the birth of twin sons by a surrogate got my attention.

Surrogacy is laden with high emotion -- the grief of infertility for sure, but also class privilege and the idea of being able to pay for anything you want, even a child grown in a rented womb. Adoption and in vitro fertilization are costly enough, but I think we can all agree that surrogacy can only be afforded by the very well off.

Well, if these are the younger Romneys' only children, I thought, I can begin to see the parents' actions as legitimate. I understand the desire to have children, and I don't know their medical history, of course. A recent NPR story about such a family showed that side of the issue.

But no. The twins are the fifth and sixth children of the Tagg Romneys. Their fourth child, now two years old, was also born of the same woman.

Family size is a touchy, touchy issue. I have my opinions, which would probably be predictable for regular readers. But can we all agree that having three children by surrogacy when you already have three children is unreasonable?

Some would say "Well, they can afford and support them." And, of course, they can, since Tagg is part of the financial parasite class (he's managing partner and co-founder of Solamere Capital, LLC).

But that doesn't excuse the use of resources raising three more rich children in a rich country, kids who will be jetting (and I use that word advisedly) to Aspen and yachting while visiting one of their many vacation homes.

The final defense of their decision would probably be, "It's a free country, and they can do what they want." Yes, they can, but they can't be free from the judgment of other citizens in this free country.

Oh, and one more thing. I learned from the New York Times story that both in vitro and surrogacy are heavily discouraged by the Mormon church, and have even resulted in "disciplinary actions" against parents who used them. But since grandpa Mitt was a bishop in the church, I guess his kids are exempt from that.

All of this points up, once again, how disconnected Mitt Romney and his family are from average Americans.