get a licence to have children.
We need a licence for nearly everything else.
Post by George OrwellOn Thu, 20 Mar 2008 02:12:49 GMT, David
Poor journalism?
Controlled by one man worldwide?
Families today are under attack as never
before. But this
attack does not come primarily from
pornography, television, rock
music, drugs, or even homosexuality. The
attack comes from government,
and it targets the family's weakest and
most vulnerable point: the
father.
The wholesale separation of children from
their fathers, the
mass incarceration of fathers without due
process of law, the seizure
of children from both mothers and fathers,
the abuse of children by
the very officials who claim to be
protecting them - this is hidden
behind a media blackout, hidden behind the
silence of the politicians,
but it is the terrifying reality for
millions of Americans.
The crisis is especially acute now. Sharp
increases in
already-crushing "child support" burdens,
new penalties ostensibly to
combat "domestic violence" - these will
produce more broken homes and
fatherless children, more parents in jail,
and further erosion of
constitutional rights.
But it is also a hopeful time. As
Australians wake up to the crimes
being committed against families by their
own government, they shake
their heads in disbelief but cannot deny
the reality they witness in
their own lives. The media and politicians
too can no longer look the
other way, as fathers speak out and
organize to protect their
families.
Family and marriage issues are on the front
pages around the world.
Parents are now resisting the government's
intrusions with new
determination. I hear parents asking how
they can become active,
pledging to sacrifice whatever is required,
vowing never to relent,
dedicating the remainder of their lives to
rescue their children from
the clutches of this cruel machine. And
yes, I hear some parents
(increasing numbers, it seems) threatening
to use measures which we
dare not condone. But I also hear them
vowing sacrifices which we can
only admire.
Even now, we witness courageous deeds and
heroic sacrifices. In
Britain, fathers have placed their demands
on the front pages of the
most prestigious news organizations in the
world. In Australia, Prime
Minister John Howard has put divorce and
custody issues before the
national legislature. In Canada, debates on
custody law are also
national news.
What Lies Ahead?
As fathers and parents, we are uniquely
situated to lead families out
of this bondage, as others have done
before. But we must have no
illusions. Before we reach the promised
land of freedom, we must fight
our way through a wilderness of despair.
"deadbeat," "batterer," "pedophile,"
and more. We must withstand scorn from the
media and politicians that
offers us no platform to defend ourselves.
We must be prepared to
endure fabricated accusations of the most
hideous crimes against our
own children, with few constitutional
protections for our rights. We
must face summary incarceration from
government bullies motivated by a
toxic mix of self-righteousness and
self-dealing. Indeed, some of us
will find ourselves called upon to make (as
some have already) the
supreme sacrifice that fathers have never
hesitated to make for the
children.
We must dispense with the illusion that
others will win this struggle
for us. We must discard the vain hope that
if only we inform them of
the terrible injustices perpetrated against
parents and children, then
journalists, politicians, family advocates,
or civil libertarians will
wake up, and do their jobs, and end this
injustice.
The bitter truth is that no one can "save
the children" but their
parents. We alone are responsible for our
children, and we alone must
protect them. No one will cry for us if we
succumb. No one will
respect us if we complain. No one will
listen to our excuses if we
fail. No one - including our children
themselves. The entire burden
rests upon us and no one else. But when we
succeed - and we will
succeed - we will create a legacy of moral
authority and family
strength that will be passed to our
children, and to theirs, and
beyond.
Even the most vicious among our opponents
have paid us this high
tribute: They have made us responsible.
"Father absence," we are told
(and told correctly), accounts for
virtually all today's social
problems. And so we are blamed for being
"absent" - even when we have
no right to be present. We are held
responsible when a marriage ends,
even when we did not end it. We alone are
made responsible for
providing for our children, even when they
are forcibly removed from
our care. We alone are held responsible for
violence in the family,
even when we have not committed it (and
even when it is committed
against us). We are held responsible for
the abuse of our children,
even when they are abused by others. We are
held responsible for the
wayward behavior of our children, even when
we are not permitted to
offer them guidance and correction. Even
when it is beyond our
control, we alone are responsible.
We must not shirk this responsibility, for
it is the essence of
fatherhood. We must embrace it, for it is
the salvation of our
children and the restoration of our
families. It is time we took the
fair-weather friends of fatherhood at their
word by standing up and
taking action. The time for talk is past.
It is now time to act.
Who We Are
So let us take this opportunity to state
clearly before the world who
we are and what we stand for.
There are those who claim to advocate for
an abstraction called
"fatherhood." Others describe themselves as
defenders of "the" family.
Many are well-intentioned. But they tend to
be political
professionals, and they often claim to
speak for "the children," not
their own.
Some of these professionals chide us
because (they say) we are looking
out for our own interests, our own
families. They seem to claim moral
superiority because they concern themselves
with other people's
children.
It is true that we have a personal interest
in preserving families.
Because we (and we alone) are defending our
families. For us, the
family is not an abstraction or an object
for our good deeds. We do
not pretend to be motivated by concern for
someone else's children. We
concern ourselves only with our own. We are
not crusaders or zealots.
And we are not professionals. We are proud
to be amateurs (literally,
those "who love"). We are parents, and our
aims are limited. But that
is not our weakness; that is our strength.
It is our strength because we have the
authority not of paid officials
but of parents and citizens. Politicians
always promise to return
power to "the people." But we are the
people. We have endured much
from the politicians, but when they take
our children, we draw a line.
The good intentions of fatherhood
promoters, family defenders, and
children's advocates cannot meet the test.
They will not fight for our
children. They will not sacrifice for our
children. They will not risk
their careers or livelihoods or lives for
our children. They will not
die for our children.
There is no such abstraction as "the"
family. There are only families
- our families. We alone can and will
defend them. If others wish to
help - journalists, politicians, defenders
of the Constitution,
critics of the judiciary, civil
libertarians - we welcome them, and
they will have our gratitude. But we must
make it clear to friend and
foe alike that this is foremost our
struggle. We - and we alone - can
save families, because they are our
families.
Likewise, we do not trumpet an abstraction
called "fatherhood." We are
concerned with our fatherhood, the
fatherhood of each individual
father. And we will establish it not with
words that cost nothing but
with deeds that may cost us dearly indeed.
If those who pose as the champions of
fatherhood dislike our deeds,
then it is time they examined what they
mean by "fatherhood." For if
it means anything less than defending one's
children against those who
would interfere with them or take them
away, then theirs is a
definition of fatherhood we find wanting.
They are entitled to their
opinion, of course, but we are entitled to
our children. And our
children are entitled to us.
Opinions are important (to a point), and "a
decent respect to the
opinions of mankind" is obligatory in a
democracy. But few who have
both would regard their opinions as being
of equal importance as their
children. While we respect the opinions of
others about the best
interest of children in the abstract, we
expect others to respect our
decisions about the best interest of our
own children. And we expect
them to understand something more: that no
parent is answerable to
government officials for how they raise
their children or for
exercising their right and duty to protect
them. The best interest of
children is a continued meaningful
relationship with both parents. And
the best way to achieve that is limit the
discretion of judges with a
rebuttable presumption of 50-50 shared
parenting
Where We Stand Now
It is impossible to overestimate the burden
that weighs upon our
shoulders. We face a government that
threatens our children, our
lives, our Constitution, and quite possibly
the very basis of
civilization itself. Before our very eyes
we see history's greatest
experiment in human freedom being debased
into a ruthless, depraved,
diabolical tyranny.
It has fallen to us "to wage war against a
monstrous tyranny, never
surpassed in the dark, lamentable catalogue
of human crime." But this
tyranny does not come from abroad; it has
arisen in our very midst. It
is a tyranny of cowards, that hides in
secret courtrooms and protected
offices, that fears the citizens it
ostensibly serves, while cynically
using and abusing innocent children to
increase the power of
grown-ups.
Against this foe, we have no illusions that
our struggle will be easy,
that laws will be passed tomorrow to free
our children. Even were this
to happen, it would be to little avail. New
laws are only as effective
as the citizens who demand them. The means
of freeing our children are
already in our own hands. Our children will
be free when their fathers
stand up and speak out like men. Families
will be safe and strong when
parents everywhere know they must join us
and build upon our work or
face destruction, as we do now.
Defeat is not an option, because we fight
for our very survival and
for the survival of our children, and of
their children. We will
comport ourselves with dignified outrage.
We will never cross the line
into violence. But neither will we relent,
withdraw, or surrender. And
if we are struck down, others will rise up
in our place.
How Far Do We Go?
How we speak out is a decision that each of
us must make alone.
Throughout the US and the world, parents
are finding bold and creative ways of
calling attention to this tyranny.
Their courage is producing results.
Each of us has our own views about the
most fundamental questions before us: the
goals we seek, the priorities we deem most
urgent, the methods of achieving those
aims.
Inevitably, differences and disagreements
must arise. As always, there
will be the cautious and the impatient, the
timid and the eager, the
moderates and the militants. In our case,
however, these differences
represent more: Often, they reflect what
the government has done (and
can still do) to us in particular and to
our children.
To the usual need for unity and forbearance
of differences, therefore,
we have a special need for charity toward
one another. No man who sees
his children has a right to brand as
extreme one who does not.
Likewise, no man has a right to label as
timid one who, by acting
rashly, could lose access to his children
as a result. Were the
circumstances reversed, the self-styled man
of reason may be the one
to find himself (as journalists say)
"foaming at the mouth," and the
coward may prove a hero.
What You Can Do
The power of the divorce regime is
formidable, but the power in our
own hands is much greater. They are trading
in lies, and as Dr. King
said, "No lie can live forever."
Beyond the power of the truth, we have
15-20 million non-custodial
parents, plus tens of millions more who
love and support them. United
in one voice and with our friends abroad,
we have the power to check
the global destruction of families.
But even short of that, your personal
action now sends a message to
your own children in particular, even
children whom you may think have
been irrevocably lost to you: Their father
or mother loves them enough
to sacrifice, to risk, and to act.
In times of crisis, people often ask,
"Where are the heroes?" In this
crisis, the heroes can come from only one
place: the parents, and
foremost fathers. You may not realize it
yet, but eventually the eyes
of the world and of history will be upon
us. We will be weighed in the
balance, and future generations will judge
what we do.
Copyright © 2004 Stephen Baskerville
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