5-17-08 

A New "Civil Right"- Best Interest of the Child

A FLDS girl receiving her Best Interest Civil Right

This morning, I was cleaning up my computer desktop.  I am an internet packrat and I pigeon-hole interesting things as I come across them.  

One item I came across was a poignant photo of a FLDS girl alone on a bus waving goodbye to her home and the life she knew.

As I am trying to come up with a good, descriptive title for this image, it struck me that-

This IS a photo of the government's "Best Interest of the Child".

And then it stuck me.  

THIS IS A NEW CIVIL RIGHT

That is, the child has the "right" to have their decisions made for them by government.  

HER "BEST INTEREST" CIVIL RIGHT

There is a lot of confusion about Civil Rights and Constitutional Rights.  This confusion is to our peril as free people.

Formerly, the words "Constitutional Rights" and "Civil Rights" were synonymous.  But later, most notably the Civil Rights Act of 1964 came to connote special rights.  Since that time, special rights legislation has taken on a life of it's own, none of which has to do with Constitutional Rights.

The first we heard the term "In the best interest of the child" was the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (Article 3, paragraph 1)-

Article 3

1. In all actions concerning children, whether undertaken by public or private social welfare institutions, courts of law, administrative authorities or legislative bodies, the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration.

On February 16, 1995, Madeleine Albright, at the time the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, signed the Convention.

The United States has not ratified the CRC.

But the "Best Interest of the Child" concept under Parens patriae is fully implemented in the United States and vociferously enforced.  

Uncle Sam knows best, so who are YOU to argue?  Never mind that his employees are THUGS.

A "Civil Right" trumps all Constitutional Rights if that works out OK for government. Supreme Court decisions to the contrary notwithstanding.

In my searching, I came across the Nemenhah Band and Native American Traditional Organization.  They have a constitution.  Of interest is their Article 17-

Article Seventeen:  There shall be no ‘Parens Patre’ counsels.  The natural, or duly adopted, parent of a child shall at all times be considered sovereign of his or her own home.  The Community shall at no time consider itself greater, wiser, more prudent, or more intelligent than the parent, except in the case of violent crime, as defined herein.  The parent who is convicted by Council of violent crimes against a child shall not be considered competent to parent, shall be cast out from among the people, shall have no place within any Lodge or Community of Nemenhah, shall be surrendered to the appropriate authority, or to nature in the absence thereof, and the child so injured shall be surrendered to the non-offending parent.  In the event that both parents do commit violence upon their child, they shall be surrendered to the buffetings of nature and of a hostile world and the child shall be given sanctuary by the community, and shall be succored as deemed appropriate by the community through the principle of Band Adoption, where allowed.  Where such adoption is not allowed, the child shall be surrendered to the appropriate authority.

 I would take it a couple steps further, but I like that a lot. 

Another angle on the "Best Interest of the Child" comes from good old Will Gaston.  He relates it as government's business investment.  Business wants to make a profit, make INTEREST on it's money. There's lots of money to be tapped from a child once they have been kidnapped.  

There is NO MONEY in leaving them at home.  And if the actual law was enforced, EXPENSE in providing "home services" to do "reasonable efforts" to keep the child at home.  So, the "Best Interest of the Child" is what will yield the most money from imprisoning, drugging, and selling the child.

Woe be unto you if you think government is your friend.  Even more woe if you think the government really cares about children.

"'Best interest of Children' doesn't love and care for children.
It's about the industry collecting the money." --Bro Will Gaston

This new sacrosanct "In the Best Interest of the Child" is an insane rotten deal for Children and their families, I think.

"In my view, a right of parents to direct the upbringing of their children is among the "unalienable Rights" with which the Declaration of Independence proclaims "all Men ... are endowed by their Creator." And in my view that right is also among the "othe[r] [rights] retained by the people" which the Ninth Amendment says the Constitution’s enumeration of rights "shall not be construed to deny or disparage." -Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, in dissenting opinion on Troxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57 (2000)