Fight The UNCRC - Stand Up For Family Rights

There is a growing notion in America that our personal liberties are being systematically stripped from us as the government wields more and more power- power that is permitted by neither the Constitution nor the will of the people. Yet over the past few decades we have seen an unprecedented growth in the size and authority of the Federal government. It's enough to make a libertarian like myself sick, and I won't stand for it. I'd like to point out just one battle that is facing us right now, that could have a tremendous effect on future generations of Americans.

ParentalRights.org is a campaign to amend the US Constitution to protect the right of parents relating to the upbringing of their children. Specifically the site challenges the United Nations Convention on the Rights of a Child (UNCRC), a far-reaching international treaty that imposes extensive government supervision and regulation on the lives of children at the expense of family choices and privacy.

The UNCRC was put into effect in 1990 upon ratification by several UN member nations. As of now, all member nations except the United States and Somalia have ratified the convention. Far more than a simple declaration of children's rights, the treaty severely limits the rights of parents to reasonably direct the lives of their children, and even places enforceable mandates on governments that adopt it. Under the UNCRC, parents are not permitted to spank children, opt out of "sex education" for their children, or even do more than advise their children on religious matters which must ultimately be left up to the child. Instead, minors are granted legal rights including "leisure", to challenge any parental decision, and to have abortions without parental knowledge. Also, government is granted sweeping authority in personal matters, and is even required to spend at least as much on child welfare as on national defense. You can read a comprehensive breakdown of its effects at ParentalRights.org, or the full text courtesy of the UK government. In short, the UNCRC threatens the validity of the family, places dangerous power in the hands of the government, and at the same time restricts national sovereignty under international law.

Madeline Albright signed the UNCRC under President Clinton, but it has never been brought before the Senate for ratification. Now, Senator Barbara Boxer, a Democrat from California and sponsor of the FOCA among other liberal abortion bills, wants Hillary Clinton to recommend the UNCRC to the Senate for ratification. President Obama himself has said that it is "embarassing" that the US has not ratified the UNCRC. With a large liberal majority in Congress and strong support from the President, it will be perilously easy for this treaty to be enacted in the near future.

However, there is a chance to stop this madness. Rep. Pete Hoekstra of Michigan, introduced the Parental Rights Amendment to Congress just days ago. The proposed amendment, currently known as H.J.Res 42, simply affirms the fundamental right of parents to direct the upbringing and education of their children and prohibits this right from being superseded by any law, domestic or international. If ratified as a Constitutional Amendment, this law would permanently protect American families from international mandates such as the UNCRC.

Amending the Constitution is an enormous task. Only 33 amendments have ever been approved by Congress, and of those only 27 ratified by the states. This bill needs all the support it can get, and it needs it quickly. That means you. You can learn more about the campaign, sign the petition to support the amendment, become an  active representative, or contact your Congressional representative and tell them to support the bill.

If the US Government ratifies the UNCRC, much of the personal freedoms and national sovereignty we enjoy as Americans- and often take for granted- will be endangered. An international UN council will decide what is best for America's children and America's future. Please join the fight against the encroaching authoritarianism that threatens to undermine the principles of personal liberty upon which this great nation was founded. Contact your representatives in Washington and tell them how their employers feel. This is the time for the voices of Americans to be heard before it is too late. This is where true change begins: We the People.

Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron's cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience.

- C. S. Lewis