It appears that perhaps common sense has broken out in Texas. Judge Barbara Walthers has ordered the children taken from their parents at the Yearning for Zion ranch returned. In in a somewhat convoluted (at least from a non-lawyer's perspective) decision, the court had earlier ruled that the seizure of 430 children from the Texas ranch was unconstitutional. However, they did not order that the children be returned to their parents. It appeared that government wasn't too concerned with how they got the children, as long as they had them.
Let me say right off the bat that I believe polygamy to be wrong. Obviously forced sex and childbearing are wrong as well, all the more abusive when framed as the "will of God." Where sexual abuse is evident, society has the responsibility to step in to protect those that cannot protect themselves for whatever reason. (Yes, I did mean to say "society", not necessarily "government")
The situation in Texas, however, does not appear to warrant this type of response. There are a few key points that should be proven before we have armed government agents forcibly remove children from their homes.
Are the children in imminent danger?
Are the children better off in the hands of the State?
I have said from the beginning of this episode, that these two items appear to be missing. The whole episode began with an anonymous phone call. In response to the call armed state and federal agents showed up at the compound and removed approx. 430 children, accompanied by their mothers. As time and court proceedings dragged on, it was decided that the children would indefinitely be guests of the state. The children were then forcibly separated from their parents and siblings. The parents were forced to sue for custody of their own children, eventually the Texas supreme court ruled the kidnapping of the children unconstitutional, but did not return them. This brings us to today, two months later.
Perhaps I should have mentioned, the person who placed the initial call does not appear to exist. Prosecutors now say that perhaps as many as five teenage girls may have been abused. Pick 430 children at random from any government-run child care program (foster homes, etc.) and tell me how many have been abused while in the system. Can anyone say with a strait face that it would be less than five? Forgive me for being unconvinced that all the children were in imminent danger, or that the government has shown in any way that they could better care for the children than their parents.
Do we want to live in a society that allows the government to come and take children from their parents because the parents have religious beliefs outside of the mainstream? A society in which an anonymous phone call can mobilize the national guard and result in the displacement of hundreds of children? A society in which lack of evidence is no reason not to pursue all the above actions?
Now, in this instance, the courts have eventually seen fit to reverse course and return the children to the parents. The investigations will go on, as perhaps they should, but the children will be out of the hands of the state. All evidence points to the fact that the cult in question promotes polygamy, which is against the law. Enforce that law, but don't force the children at gunpoint to live with strangers in, what to them, is a strange and foreign culture.
Who will they decide is "too different" next?
~Gabriel
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The Deep State and Globalism
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6 comments:
This, my friend(cousin), is exactly what frightens me about the direction this country is heading. And the complacency of its citizens frightens me even more. I'm reminded of the following quote from Thomas Jefferson:
"Timid men prefer the calm of despotism to the tempestuous sea of liberty."
Scary.
Btw, nice blog. I look forward to reading more.
Sad sad sad. The gov't officials running what should be a good service for children who are really in need have been so warped by the social politics of the day. They really believe that if the state could just raise all children, especially the children in these "different," non-mainstream, cultures, our country would be a better place. This is exactly why I got out of teaching. This socialist ideal has been applied to our public school system as well. Start them in all-day pre-school when they are three (or state-run daycare from birth for that matter). And continue them through the system that is slowly taking every parental responsibility away. ie. feeding the child breakfast, teaching the child how to socialize, learning about sexuality... For the love! Next they're going to keep them over night to make sure that they get some sleep! I digress. The point I'm trying to make is that the reason this grievous kidnapping took place to begin with: all aspects of our beloved government have been taken over by socialistic ideals. We are abandoning our forefather's ideas. And this is the fruit. Infants and toddlers from this sect have been ripped from their parents and scattered throughout the state of TX, not even with their siblings. On some (false) allegations that young teenage girls were being abused. Tell me, how does this make sense in any world? It does, if you believe that the government has the right to raise all the kids in the country. And this is exactly what is happening.
But not to my kids.
Adrian, I agree completely. How can we let our due processes be violated without a peep of protest? Oh yes, it's "for the children."
"It does, if you believe that the government has the right to raise all the kids in the country. And this is exactly what is happening."
Quite, it is this kind of thinking that somehow shifts the burden of proof from the accuser (government/anonymous tipster), to the supposedly "presumed innocent" parents. Parents should not be forced to prove a negative in order to keep their kids. The attitude of "prove to me you're not abusing your children and you can maybe have them back" just has no place in our country.
Again, what is next?
Yes, it is scary. I thought from the beginning that the state had no right to take all the kids away. And there are so many kids back with parents/guardians that really are abused! It's a good idea (protecting children) gone terribly awry. We were even threatened with DCFS when we were homeschooling - I'm glad it's easier these days.
Mom,
Yeah, I had homeschooling (among other things) in the back of my mind while writing this post. While some children in the Texas situation certainly were (at the very least) taken advantage of; the authorities were quick to jump on the case, apparently, because they were "weird."
It's not that far a stretch to see other groups fitting into this situation, homeschoolers being one of them. There has been several cases in Connecticut of parents being accused of "educational neglect" by their DCFS. Scary stuff, our country isn't supposed to work this way.
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