Topic: Statism and Liberty don't mix
Do-Gooders at it again in Texas
The latest crime against American citizens by their government revolves around the FLDS church. But they're different, so I'd rather keep my mouth shut!
by The Jeffersonian Diplomat
(libertarian)
Tuesday, May 6, 2008

                Is anyone else getting tired of the do-gooders? They bombed the Davidians, kidnapped a child at gunpoint, and now they've taken the liberty to herd over 300 children like cattle, while they sort out a case against their lifestyle. For what reason? They are polygamist? They are "cultish"? Some women may not like the lifestyle? So what? What does that have to do with you or me? If a grown adult wants to leave the community, and feel like they have to go to the state to do so, then so be it. Who are you or I to say how they should live? Even more, who is the state to do so?

                Yes, it is true that some of the women in the Arizona group wanted out, felt threatened, and gave a "reason" for the state to intervene. They went after the leader, whom the charges were against. What happened here? Some anonymous call prompted the state to move in and abduct over 300 children. Does anyone see the problem here? Are we to turn our heads again at another travesty because they have a different way of living? Who is next? The Amish? They're not contributing to oil profits. There must be something going on in those buggies. One may argue that this is a rare occurrance, and while it may not have been handled properly, but that's hardly to say the state shouldn't intervene.

                Well this weekend MSNBC told a story about a savage DA in California, who went on a child-abuse busting spree in 1984. Information on the case can be found here. The result of the story was that at least 3 of the convicted in 1984 were convicted falsely. One spent 20 years in prison. The children were basically forced to lie about being molested by the accused, and in doing so, sent them to prison. Because of a politically ambitious DA, and a few lies, a man spent 20 years in prison. Moreover, the former children have had to deal with 20 years of guilt, as they realized what they had done. Insert anecdotes 2-10. This is happening more and more.

                When we understand that our government will begin to treat us the way it typically treats foreigners who offend the mob, only then will our eyes be opened. Just as with every other government that has claimed such moral authority, when you give the government the right to control every aspect of your life, it will. We've all well heard that good intentions pave the road to hell. Our government may epitomize it more than anything.

                But who is ultimately responsible for this abuse? Our government wasn't taken over in a military coup. This abomination has grown through nearly a hundred years of administrations and congress. We are. We can blame the yellow journalists, the international bankers, and mob bosses all we want. We are the ones that vote them in, and allow the laws they write. We've continued to elect the lesser of two evils, thereby giving a mandate to evil, either way. We've ignored the candidates who tell the truth, and slander them at any turn. If we claim to be democratic, we implicate ourselves in doing so. We also are the only ones that can stop it.

   When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn't a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.
--Martin Niemoller


Every decent man is ashamed of the government he lives under.

--HL Mencken
The Diplomat

©2008 The Jeffersonian Diplomat, all rights reserved. You must have written permission from the author in order to republish this work.
Published: Tuesday, May 6, 2008
Last modified: Tuesday, May 6, 2008

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Reader Comments:

Posted By: RickSp
Date: 2008-05-06 04:21:09

Of 53 underaged girls, 31 are either pregnant or have had children.  Six of these girls have two children, and two have three children.

Be so kind as to explain to me how the statutory rape of young girls by old men is protected by the Constitution.  

 

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Posted By: Lou D
Date: 2008-05-06 05:45:32

RickSp: If that’s true, let the government of Texas prove it without trampling the constitution. You may be ready to throw away your rights, but I’m not.

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Posted By: RickSp
Date: 2008-05-06 06:44:53

Lou, I have no doubt that the government will prove their case.  Do the math - if 31 girls between he ages of 12 and 17 are pregnant or are mothers, including several who have several children, they are all victims of statutory rape.   It appears that 60% of the underaged girls were indeed victims of rape by older men.

Again, would anyone care to try to justify statutory rape as a constitutional right?  I see nothing about removing children from an abusive and possibly dangerous environment that "tramples the constitution."  

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Posted By: Lou D
Date: 2008-05-06 07:39:12

Rick: Even if all of this is true, no one is going to jail, as the search warrants were illegal. But perhaps none of it is true after all. If you go by records confiscated by the state--as reported in the Salt Lake Tribune today--there are presently no underaged pregnant girls. (Or maybe one, but her age is in dispute.) So how did Texas get the math so wrong?  

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Posted By: Lou D
Date: 2008-05-06 07:49:19

Also from the Tribune:

 

Of 37 families that filled out 2007 census sheets, 24 were plural families and 13 were monogamous couples.


* The average age of men in plural families was 38, and the average age of women was 31.
* The average age of men in monogamous unions was 24, and and the average age of women was 21.

The age differences are about the same as mainstream America.

 

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Posted By: RickSp
Date: 2008-05-06 08:15:08

Lou, I still do not see how protecting children from seroius abuse is so bad. And yes, the search warrants were entirely proper.  Here is a discussion in some detail from FindLaw - The Rescue of Children from the FLDS Compound in Texas: Why the Arguments Claiming Due Process Violations and Religious Freedom Infringement Have No Merit

[link edited for length]

Excuse me if I doubt the new claims made about the girls ages made by attorneys for this odious little cult.  I recall similar claims made on behalf of Warren Jeffs before he was convicted for conspiracy to committ statutory rape.   

 What I find so sick and funny at the same times, are the holier than defenders of child rapists who have the unmittigated gall to quote  Martin Niemöller, clearly implying that those who oppose your defense of child abuse are Nazis.    I guess that is the best they can do. 

 

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Posted By: Lou D
Date: 2008-05-06 08:50:21

"Lou, I still do not see how protecting children from seroius abuse is so bad."

 It isn't. That's why they should be kept out of the hands of the Texas CPS, an organization where the child murder rate is four times the rate in the general population, where children are beaten and raped, where 2/3rds of them are given psychotropic drugs they don't need. These are abuses documented by the comptroller of Texas, not invented by beauracrats playing CYA.

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Posted By: RickSp
Date: 2008-05-06 09:47:34

So Lou you are arguing that it is better to leave the kids with the rapists? 

Of course, the kids in question have been kept separate from other kids in the system. They have been sent to various private shelters and have not been exposed to television, movies, or radio in consideration of their culturally sheltered upbringing.  Attempts have also been made to meet the children's dietary and clothing needs.  So your diatribe against the Texas CPS appears to be simply nonsense.

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Posted By: Lou D
Date: 2008-05-06 10:10:33

"So Lou you are arguing that it is better to leave the kids with the rapists?"

What rapists? As it is, they have a complaint from a thirty-something year-old woman in another state who was never there, a warrant they just dropped on the man she accused, who'd never been there, a confidential informant who'd never been there either, and two men they arrested during the raid that they never charged. No valid complaint, no charges, and the state is desperate to come up with something, as it wants desperately to destroy this unchristian group that had the nerve to set up house in their midst. So, if you have the name of a rapist (or even a litterer--that's part of the Don't Mess With Texas program), be sure to let them know.

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Posted By: Scott from Oregon
Date: 2008-05-06 11:23:44

Wow. Still defending old dudes who want to corkscrew little girls...

Amazing grace...

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Posted By: NAMBLA MEMBER SINCE 69
Date: 2008-05-06 11:30:37

NAMBLA PROUDLY STANDS BY THE FLDS CHURCH OF EL DORADO, TEXAS!!! Consentual sex between minors and adults should be legal!!!

 

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Posted By: RickSp
Date: 2008-05-06 15:08:41

Well gee wiz Lou it is not as if the cult was headed by a rapist. Oh no, that's not right. Warren Jeffs is serving time for conspiracy to commit statutory rape.  And all those FLDS girls who said they were 15 who had babies..... I guess you think we should ignore them too. 

 Unlike you, I am not ready to ignore the rights of abused children.

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