Of course, under a Demeny system that representation would be achieved by proxy, a novel feature for a representative democracy — but on the spectrum of powers we necessarily grant to parents, hardly that dramatic of a step. The simplest mechanism would be to assign half a vote to each custodial parent; presumably single parents with full custody could exercise the full franchise for each child, and assigning rights in custody disputes and polyamorous households would provide a mild stimulus for the legal profession.

In the U.S., higher fertility rates track with support for Republicans, but single mothers are more likely to vote for Democrats — as are recent immigrants, a relatively high-fertility group. So Demeny voting might change the balance of power within each coalition rather than benefiting either party overall: Hispanics and low-income families would have more clout within the Democratic Party, and the Hannity-obsessed elderly would cede influence within the G.O.P. to the minivan-driving middle-aged.

Both shifts would be positive. American life is increasingly polarized by age, with our politics tilted rightward by aging baby boomers voting Trump to hold off a millennial-ruled future and our cultural and commercial spheres devoted to pandering to the fashions of the adolescent. Parents, mostly Gen Xers now, are as well-positioned as any group to play a mediating role — and they will be more likely to play it effectively if they have the political power to redirect more resources to the beleaguered, ever-more-expensive cause of procreation.

Such a system, of course, would turn politically aware teenagers who differed ideologically from their parents into domestic dissidents, their citizenship hijacked, their support for an alderman who wants to build a skate park subsumed by their dad’s desire to make the local dog park great again. I’m personally not all that troubled by this injustice, but I’m happy to offer concessions to my 16-year-old self. There’s no reason Demeny voting when kids are small can’t coexist with giving teenagers the vote a little earlier, if that’s what’s required to make their parents’ empowerment during their minority more tolerable.

Sadly, the very thing that makes Demeny voting desirable — the political and cultural weakness of the family in an aging and individualist society — makes it hard to imagine how it could ever get off the ground politically. But it’s somewhat easier to imagine experiments at the state level, where a certain kind of political self-interest could grease the wheels.