Topic: Collectivism
The Family Under Attack - Does the State Own YOUR Children? Why the ongoing imprisonment of FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) children in Texas should serve as a warning to every family in America.by Carter Braxton
(Libertarian)
Saturday, April 26, 2008
"The children are in a position to no longer on a daily basis be influenced by adults who have encouraged a code of silence," said Darrell Azar, a spokesman for Child Protective Services. "Now that they are away from that influence they may become more comfortable, and we will have a better chance of learning the truth."
The first thing I'm going to say is that removal of children from the home is sometimes justified. Children are individuals too and as such have rights, including the right to be free from the unjustified use of force. No parent has the right to physically or sexually abuse their child.
The state is the arbiter of rights. It is the duty of the state to identify where rights have been violated and to take action to correct those wrongs. If evidence exists that a parent has exceeded (or perverted) their authority to teach and correct, it can properly be presented in the form of an indictment detailing the criminal acts alleged to have been committed.
But the state is not a parent. Absent specific evidence of a crime, of specific harm being done to a specific child by a specific adult (at a specific time and place, etc.) the state has no authority to intercede in the parent – child relationship.
At least it didn’t until now.
Formerly, the law considered parents to have sole legal right and responsibility for the upbringing of their children. They, and they alone, had the right to teach, correct and protect. That it was the right of the parent to make decisions related to the religious or philosophical upbringing of their child rested at the very heart of our system of liberties.
To replace the wisdom of the parents with the authority of the state is to upend that system. And the movement to do just that is gaining momentum.
The recent raid on the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints ( FLDS ) Yearning For Zion ( YFZ ) Ranch in Texas (and subsequent detainment of 416 children) is a particularly egregious example of this trend. Military tactics (machine guns and armored personnel carriers) were used to "extricate" 416 children. No evidence. No warrant. No charges. Just guns (and social workers, of course).
And it is now being argued in court, and apparently successfully (to judge by the continued detainment of the 416 children), that the beliefs of the parents, in and of themselves, were harmful enough to the children that they needed to be removed.
Let me repeat: none of the mothers or fathers were charged with any specific criminal acts. Lifestyle was their crime. Religion their offense.
The point is not whether you share their beliefs, but whether you feel they had the right to hold them, and to pass them on to their children.
The relationship between parent and child is unique. It is perhaps the only relationship before the law where inequality of rights is actually justified. Children have rights, but those rights cannot be over-expanded without doing detriment to the individual child, the family unit, and society as a whole.
Under the pretense of "youth rights", or "protecting the children", the state can engage in egregious acts of "reeducation" and social engineering. By molding the minds of the young, the state can mold the entire society. That is why parents must jealously guard their right to parent. Acquiescence to the state’s demands to number, immunize, psychotropically medicate, or educate your child a certain way may not be in your child’s best interest. You, the parent, not the state, are the one who should make these important decisions.
But education of children is especially the key to controlling any society. Every successful totalitarian regime has understood this. Independent families are a threat to the future of any totalitarian system because they can teach children that the state is not the benevolent master it pretends to be. That is exactly the kind of education the state detests (and the reason you’ll never find mention of it in any government school).
And perhaps, just perhaps, that’s the real reason behind some of the government’s "child protection" actions. Perhaps the state feels the need to "protect" children against teachings that conflict with the interests of the state.
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2008 Carter Braxton, all rights reserved.
Published: Saturday, April 26, 2008
Last modified: Saturday, April 26, 2008
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Lets raise some troops and send them down to Texas. Home addresses of the officials involved shouldn't be that hard to find. I mean, I don't mind apostacy, but jailin' kids crosses Every line.
Posted By: No Drugs For My Kids
Date: 2008-04-26 21:13:57
Too many Mormons just go along when the school counselor says their kid needs drugs. And what hapened to Mormons being against Social Security? Didn't the Prophets teach it was the Mark of the Beast (and against the Lord's directive on self-sufficiency)?
And immunizations. If you you'd have known those were plum full of poison would you have let them stick your kid so easily?
Americans have civil liberties that the state of Texas has decided don't really count.Remember Tulia?We see the exact same forces of the state engaged in the most outrageous behavior.And the apologist for the state keep saying the end justifies the means. The state of Texas is clearly engaged in un-American and illegal aggression against its citizens.
Posted By: Carmen Rodriguez
Date: 2008-04-27 18:00:57
In January 2006, my middle daughter (then 19), told CPS that she was molested with power tools, beaten with crow bars and burned alive. This all supposedly took place between the ages of 8 to 16 years. My husband was arrested but subsequently released on bond. CPS took my 2 youngest from me without a court order.
The case dragged on with this daughter feeding CPS all kinds of lies. In May 2007 our CPS trial began in Lockhart. Their “evidence” consisted of hearsay and e-mails allegedly authored by my 19 year old daughter. Constitutional violations were rampant throughout this ordeal.
She perjured herself multiple times during our trial but there were NO consequences. There were NO consequences when she failed to show up for the final day of trial, even though she was under a subpoena.
The Guardian Ad Litem testified that it wasn’t safe for my youngest daughter (16) to return home “(even if the father were removed)” because she would “suffer thru abuse rather than report it”—“even if she continued going to public school because when she got back home, her mother would deprogram her.” WHAT abuse? “DEPROGRAM”? Does CPS normally “deprogram” it’s victims by telling them- “your mother doesn’t love you”, “she abandoned you”, “your mother chose her husband over you”, “it’s all because of your parents that you are here in this emergency shelter now”, “your parents aren’t cooperating, it’s not our fault you are here”, “why don’t you pray to your God—see if He will answer your prayers and get you out of this place.”
My youngest daughter (16) remains in foster careagainst her will and despite her telling these people that she was never abused and just wants to return home. It doesn't matter how many times you tell CPS there was no abuse, they just tell you that you are in "denial" and "not cooperating". She has not been allowed to see her brothers and sisters since their visits were cut off in February 2007. No phone calls were ever permitted and still are not to this day.As of this writing, we are appealing to the Third District Court in Austin, Texas.
My husband is not allowed to have a visit with her because he refuses to take sex offender therapy. He refuses to take it because he is not a sex offender. There are no criminal charges against him. CPS has gone above and beyond to punish us.
I'm no lawyer, and I don't know all the facts about the FLDS situation but it seems no family is safe when their children can be taken away simply because a few bureaucrats can convince one judge that a situation is subjectively dangerous. The situation described by Carmen above and by others flies in the face of what I understand our Constitution is supposed to all about.
Posted By: Joseph Anthony Gathia
Date: 2008-05-07 07:48:19
Dear Carter,
Your article is indeed thought provoking and raises number of questions regarding chidlren and globalization.
However, in view of the forthcoming presidential elections in US it would be important to raise the issue of LET AMERICAN JOBS STAY IN AMERICA.
I am referring to the outsourcing of jobs of the third world countries. Such outsourcing has tremendous impact on US economy and family earning ultimately leading to the adverse impact on the quality of life of chidlrne.
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2008 Carter Braxton, all rights reserved.