Big Brother the Nanny

     One of the fevered dreams of Leviathan is to assume parental control of children in lieu of the parents, who are only to be tolerated to the point that the state’s de facto totalitarian control is not yet absolute. In Scotland, for example, children now have a “super-guardian” that supercedes parents. Even in the United States of America, some feel that the government is being generous by considering the inclusion of parents at all when it comes to children.

     Now, Oregon is considering an emergency law to “study” having the states’ “licensed health care providers” investigate families:

“The Oregon Health Authority shall study home visiting by licensed health care providers in this state. The authority shall submit findings and recommendations for legislation to an interim committee of the Legislative Assembly related to health care not later than December 31, 2019.”

     While this seems at first a vague and not necessarily an indicator of government intrusion into the family, this bill fits in with the Oregon Governor’s rather far reaching plans:

“Gov. Kate Brown has established her budget proposals for the coming two-year period, 2019-21, and they include a focus on behavioral health (addictions and mental health), investing in the health of children and Oregon’s Coordinated Care Organizations; a uniquely Oregon approach to blending a wide array of health services under one umbrella.

“…

“One of the governor’s priorities that he’s most excited about is the beginning investment in a six-year program to create universal home visits for new parents. When the program is complete, every new parent — this includes adoptions — would receive a series of two or three visits by someone like a nurse or other health care practitioner. The visits could include basic health screenings for babies; hooking parents up with primary care physicians; linking them to other services; and coordinating the myriad childhood immunizations that babies need.”

     This in effect suspects all parents of being guilty of child abuse until proven innocent (if then).

“Government agents monitoring the homes of law-abiding parents who have not been accused of a crime without a warrant is an unconscionable violation not only of parental rights and individual liberty but also a trampling of the Fourth Amendment and the Due Process Clause of the Constitution.

“The parental right to familial self-determination has long been the constitutional standard, dating back to Pierce v. Society of Sisters in 1923 when the Supreme Court threw out an Oregon law requiring all children to attend public school. ‘The fundamental theory of liberty upon which all governments in this Union repose excludes any general power of the State to standardize its children by forcing them to accept instruction from public teachers only,’ the justices wrote. ‘The child is not the mere creature of the State; those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations.'”

     Inch by inch, the Leviathan loving Left lurches towards becoming a literal nanny state.

     The bill, SB526, as introduced:

Oregon SB526 (2019) by ThePoliticalHat on Scribd

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