Bill of Wrongs
August 25th, 2006 by Wyatt
Hat tip to Orbusmax for pointing out an amazing waste of time and money in the city of Portland. Here’s the summary from the Oregonian:
Portland will soon become the first major U.S. city to have a children’s bill of rights written by the very people it affects.
City Council members will vote today to accept the result of a year and a half of work by dozens of Portland children. The document is a no-surprises list of fundamental needs and philosophies any parent or compassionate adult could support, such as the notion that all children should have clothing, a solid roof over their heads and adequate health care.
The subtle bias aside, I think this is an oversimplification. You can read the entire document here and see that this is not a bill of rights so much as a bill of entitlements. And, it was largely written by individuals who do not have to pay for them. Let’s walk through a few.
Article II is titled “Education” and has a long list of “rights” that sound like they are going to cost me money:
a. Extra-Curricular Activities: Extra-curricular activities, including athletics, the arts, linguistics, politics, and any other areas in which students express interest, should be made available to all students, and all students should be supported in their pursuits.
b. Curriculum and subjects: Children and youth are entitled to an education that equips them with basic skills and covers a variety of subjects.
c. Safety and Health of Students: Students’ physical and mental safety and health should be protected inside, outside, and around their school. Students are entitled to schools and playgrounds that are free of drugs and violence.
d. Individual Needs: Schools must respect and accommodate the learning abilities and aptitudes of all students. Children and youth have the right to express their own identity and to be respected for their individuality.
e. School Funding: Sufficient funding should be provided for all children and youth to have a successful educational experience. This may include supplying nutritionally sufficient foods, well-trained and paid teachers, appropriate and up-to-date materials, transportation to school, as well as any additional resources. Children and youth should have access to athletics and other activities regardless of their families’ ability to pay.
f. Preparation for the Future: Schools must provide students the tools deemed necessary for their personal advancement in all aspects of their educational life. Youth have the right to know all their options and choose their own desired path.
Any area in which they express interest should be made available to all students? You must be joking. The way I read this, if any student decides that fencing is a fine sport, then all students must be given the opportunity to pursue it? Then there’s the implication that if a student wants to play a sport, nothing should stop them. Is this a way to justify subsidizing all sports in all schools? That’s not a right, that’s an entitlement.
Then there are the items about an education that equips them with basic skills and a variety of of subjects as well as accommodating the aptitudes of all students. So, will schools stop handing out condoms if that money could be spent on better computers or new calculators? I don’t think so. Will they start giving individualized instruction to each kid with a slightly different learning style? I doubt it. They’ve never done it before, which is why we homeschool. Again, these aren’t rights. These are entitlements.
How about the item about sufficient funding? How about sensible budgeting? How about a promise to the taxpayers that you’ll actually spend the money wisely?
Article III, section c:
c. Spiritual: We have the right to follow our own spiritual path.
Um, no. Just no. My child can do that after he’s moved out. While he’s living with me, he doesn’t get to choose to ignore our spiritual leadership.
Article IV, section d:
d. Employment: We are entitled to any funds that we earn.
Wow. I’d like to have that right. About a third of what I earn gets confiscated by the state and federal governments.
Article V, section d:
d. Privacy: We have the right to have privacy in our homes.
Privacy from whom? My son does not have the right to privacy from me. He does not get to prevent me from entering his room, reading his email, or rummaging through his drawers. We do those things because we trust him, not because he has a right.
You have to read the next one carefully. Article V, section e:
e. Freedom from Discrimination and Prejudice: We have the right not to be discriminated against based on our race, color, religion, sex, age, mental or physical disability, national origin, sexual orientation, marital status, familial status, political views, source of income, gender identity or any other basis prohibited by applicable federal, state, and local laws. Such discrimination poses a threat to the health, safety and general welfare of the citizens of Portland and Multnomah County and menaces the institutions and foundation of our community. We have the right not to tolerate any disparaging or insensitive attitudes aimed at the above characteristics.
Did you catch that thing at the end? “We have the right not to tolerate [...]” So, let me get this straight. A son goes to his Christian father and tells him he’s gay. The father tells him that he loves him, but that they’ll need to do some reading of the Bible and prayer to consider the consequences of the decision. The son then gets to say, “I choose not to tolerate your insensitive attitude!” Does he have the right to sue for emancipation? Can he walk out the door and demand support from the city because his “rights” have been violated? Does the father get fined or spend a night in jail? I don’t even want to think about where this madness leads.
There’s more, but as I’ve mentioned above, these are not rights, these are entitlements. It only goes to prove how backwards the liberal thinkers in the city council are. They think that rights are granted by the government and that when the government generously choose to grant those rights, it’s like giving a gift. These gifts are deemed important enough by the city council that they promise to spend the government’s money on them.
Rights are not gifts from the government. They are freedoms that God has given us as human beings that the Declaration of Independence and the original Bill of Rights have declared. These documents are not evidence of government being generous. These documents were bright, yellow lines painted around the citizenry and marked with signs that told the government “Do Not Cross”. Furthermore, these rights drew the lines of what we are allowed to do. Not the things and and programs that we are entitled to.
We have the right to speak freely. We have the right to assemble. We have the right to a free press. We have the right to worship however we see fit. We do not have the “right” to have an audience. We do not have the “right” to have a comfortable auditorium provided for our assembly. We do not have the “right” to have someone pay for our printing press. We do not have the “right” for someone to pay for our church building.
This document is an insult to the founding documents in the way it redefines rights and self-evidence. It is an insult to the citizens of Portland as it offers up the potential for huge entitlement programs (necessitating more taxes) without considering the impact or allowing those paying the bills to give input. It is an insult to parents as it presumes to grant privileges and benefits to the very children in our homes without our permission and gives the implication of legal standing.
The City of Portland has clearly stated that they want to take away the rights and prerogatives from parents, give benefits to their children that they likely disagree with, and then charge the parents to pay for it all. I can only hope that this was symbolic, in which case it just makes them look silly. If, however, this becomes policy, it is dangerous, expensive, and wasteful.
I’m glad I don’t live in the city limits, but I’m embarrassed to live so close.