I have only decided to blog about it after reading Tara’s blog over at Heartschooling, HSLDA Pushes Amendment. In addition to Tara’s post I’d like to add some additional information to help any of you who are unsure of this.
The amendment proposed by parentalrights.org was drafted by Michael Farris of the HSLDA. Although the website makes no mention of him (that I could find, I could be wrong).
HSLDA background:
- The HSLDA supports Mike Huckabee, who has an anti-homeschooling record. For that record go here. Michael Farris is (or was) a Baptist Minister. So maybe this came as no surprise.
- The HSLDA is a Christian organization that caters to the rights of Christian homeschoolers first.
- The HSLDA is not known for their support of unschoolers.
- The HSLDA promotes exclusivity. Browsing the rest of that site might bring you to more realizations.
On the website there is an option to upload all of your friends and families addresses into his system. So that they can get the email too. This is a huge invasion of privacy. Please do not do this. If you want to share it with someone, Send the link directly. However, I’d just close the window and forget it was ever there.
Whats with the huge fund raising effort? In order to join this “cause” you have to pay $25.00. you also have the option of donating more. Where is all of this money going? Why doesn’t he use his own money? Why do you have to join a club in order to support a clause? And if you join, in the words of Mary McCarthy at Publius you can “get the secret handshake that only dues-paying members get!”
Your parental rights ARE protected under the US Constitution. What we need to do is defend and uphold our Constitution. If our rights have come under attack it is from politicians who regularly ignore the Constitution. An amendment will NOT solve this problem. Your parental rights are protected by the Due Process Clause of the 14th amendment. (http://www.liftingtheveil.org/supreme-court.htm)
I agree with Tara, that when you unnecessarily decide to amend the US Constitution to explicitly include parental rights, you are inviting the government into your home. To sit right in the middle your living room floor. In addition, your parental rights are no longer debatable. They are written in stone. That means those things that are NOT specifically mentioned in the amendment, are no longer your rights. You know what happens when you are given an EXPLICIT right? It means you have no choice. You exercise that right, or suffer the consequences. Or they will find some way to mandate that you do. Just because the constitution doesn’t explicitly list all of our rights, doesn’t mean they do not exist.
“by allowing government to come in and rule on such a matter, gives them the right to turn the amendment down, which forces us all to acknowledge that the federal government has jurisdiction over our children. ” (Source)
It’s nice to see others coming to the same realization that this is NOT a good thing. I hope we can get the word out.
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Is there an organization you DO recommend? Because clearly 14th Amendment protection did not apply to the parents in the California case that currently seems to have banned home schooling in California.
Thanks!
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Cali is making a law that is unconstitutional. Therefore the issue isn’t the constitution but the lack of politicians and judges who follow the consititution or warp it for their own reasons. If the constitution was changed, those judges would still ignore it or warp it just as they are now with gun rights, parental rights etc.
Are you looking for an easy solution? Cuz I think you need to understand there isn’t one. The only solution is involvement in local level politics. YOU need to get involved in politics on the local level and help vote for or vote down the right/wrong people and/or the right/wrong ideas and laws.
This recent decision was made because people were not informed of their rights in the past and allowed sh*tty laws to be put in place so they had no protection for the future. People in Cali(and ALL other states) need to step up and fight for what they want and stop assuming some lawyer or organization or amendment is gonna come in and save the freakin day. Only local residents will be able to change laws by protesting, petitioning, fighting etc.
Here in NV we had a couple of unschooling moms who took on the law by themselves. They were smart enough to do this before an issue surfaced and they fought to get us the best damn laws in the country. We only have to notify one time instead of yearly. We do not have to do any testing, show any progress etc. WE have complete control over our kids and their education. The school district has NO say and acknowledges that fact all because parents stood up and fought to get the government out of our homes.
No organization needs our support. But my local government needs my attention. If you want changes, you need to make them yourself. $100 to the HSLDA doesn’t do anything for us. It’s pads the pockets of a biased organization. Parental activism is what wins cases.
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As far as my knowledge will take me, a constitutional amendment will not change help in this situation. Just like gun laws differ in each state, homeschooling laws will continue to differ in each state.
This court case also came about form allegations of abuse. Unfortunately, the two cases have seemed to collide with each other. Abuse and education are not the same and should be treated separately.
I will be curious to see what happens when the case hits the supreme court.
I usually get my information from the NHEN. http://www.nhen.org
Regardless if the outcome of this case, the HSLDA is not a good fit for unschoolers.
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U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child is a real treaty, that is being pushed through by Barbara Boxer with the support of Obama. While the intentions behind the treaty are good, there are many problems with it, from a US constitution standpoint. Once this is ratified, parents will then be monitored by representatives of the international ‘Committee on the Rights of the Child’. This would give unheard of powers to social workers who already tend to exceed their powers in many cases.
I do not think the US should or needs to ratify this treaty because we have already signed and ratified two optional protocols to the Convention which protect children from being used in military conflicts and requires states to prohibit the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography.
This is all on wikipedia…not some alarmist website looking for conspiracies.
While you do not agree with Micheal Farris, I don’t think it is wise to throw the baby out with the bathwater in this case. You do not need to join his group..true…but making calls to your state representative and telling other parents of the dangers to their parental rights is a prudent thing to do.
You have a very nice blog btw and I found it googling the CRC.
God bless,
m~
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