The Road to Serfdom Begins at the Gates of the FLDS Compound!
Bill Falzett III
April 27, 2008
Like many across the country, I have been watching the developments surrounding the arrest and detainment of the women and children of the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. For those of you who may not be entirely familiar with the case, let me give some highlights:
Sometime prior to April 3rd, a crisis hotline received calls from an anonymous caller claiming to be a 16 year girl being held against her will at the Yearning For Zion Ranch. The caller made specific accusations against a specific member of the FLDS church. Subsequently, the Texas Department of Child Protective Services obtained a warrant to enter the FLDS community, and after searching the site they removed somewhere in the neighborhood of 460 women, children and infants from the community into custody of the state. It later developed that the anonymous caller was not 16 years old, but a political activist with an agenda. The man she accused of the assault has not been arrested or charged with any crime. Furthermore, there is no evidence he has even been in the state for many years. Even so, the state has removed the children along with the mothers, separated them and have subjected them to genetic tests to sort out their parentage. Since the genetic tests, the state has begun placing the children in foster homes across the state. For anyone slow on the uptake, this means that CPS has not been able to produce the original victim or substantiate claims of abuse, and are now on a forcible fishing expedition for damning evidence. Meanwhile the anonymous caller has been arrested for making a false report, but to date no one has been arrested for child abuse, neglect, polygamy or any other infraction of the law.
Philosophically speaking, fundamentalist religion, polygamy, and the insularity of this group give me no concern beyond a personal distaste and where it conflicts with existing law. However, like most I am troubled to hear of the alleged abuse of young girls being forced into marriage and held against their will. From the standpoint of this allegation, it seems the state could potentially make an argument for the emergency removal of any females believed to be in imminent danger of abuse. In my estimation, since the age of consent in Texas is 16, this could reasonably be extended to include all girls aged 12 to 16 years old. However, the state has significantly overstepped this reasonable application by detaining all children, including nursing infants and boys who were not included in the allegations of abuse. Furthermore, there are also reports that some families within the FLDS community are more traditional monogamous ones. Even so, ALL children were removed without respect to individual due process.
I have had many heated discussions and read many blogs exploring all sides of the issue. I am frankly astonished by how many people are sympathetic to the government case, and express a general comfort and willingness to give up some freedoms for the sake of security, even if the evidence to support the case is flimsy, manufactured or non-existent. For my part, I feel compassion for the women and children of the FLDS community. I also believe specific individual violations of the law should be prosecuted. However, my real dog in this hunt is the Constitution, and my current understanding of the events leads me to the conclusion that our government has subverted the constitutional rights of somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 citizens. This is a tragedy for all of us, as well as the many thousands of Americans who gave their lives to defend the constitution in war and who continue to do so every day across this country. I am concerned our state government has systematically dehumanized and marginalized them by portraying them in the media as an abhorrent aberration. They have further justified detaining all these women and children, while admitting the initial cause for the warrant is bogus. If this precedent is allowed to stand, I envision any number of situations in which an activist can make anonymous phone calls because they do not approve of a lifestyle, and unleash chaos on our families in the name of saving the children.
I want to leave you with a final thought. It has been proven repeatedly beyond any doubt that many children have been abused at the hands of the leadership of the Catholic Church. Given the general knowledge of this fact, are we as a society prepared to accept that the government is now justified in storming the homes of all practicing Catholics and removing their children? Government tyranny is a slippery slope, and the road to serfdom is paved by such unchallenged abuses of power.
Governor Rick Perry
Attorney General Greg Abbott
Senator John Cornyn
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson
Your Congressional Representative
Sometime prior to April 3rd, a crisis hotline received calls from an anonymous caller claiming to be a 16 year girl being held against her will at the Yearning For Zion Ranch. The caller made specific accusations against a specific member of the FLDS church. Subsequently, the Texas Department of Child Protective Services obtained a warrant to enter the FLDS community, and after searching the site they removed somewhere in the neighborhood of 460 women, children and infants from the community into custody of the state. It later developed that the anonymous caller was not 16 years old, but a political activist with an agenda. The man she accused of the assault has not been arrested or charged with any crime. Furthermore, there is no evidence he has even been in the state for many years. Even so, the state has removed the children along with the mothers, separated them and have subjected them to genetic tests to sort out their parentage. Since the genetic tests, the state has begun placing the children in foster homes across the state. For anyone slow on the uptake, this means that CPS has not been able to produce the original victim or substantiate claims of abuse, and are now on a forcible fishing expedition for damning evidence. Meanwhile the anonymous caller has been arrested for making a false report, but to date no one has been arrested for child abuse, neglect, polygamy or any other infraction of the law.
Philosophically speaking, fundamentalist religion, polygamy, and the insularity of this group give me no concern beyond a personal distaste and where it conflicts with existing law. However, like most I am troubled to hear of the alleged abuse of young girls being forced into marriage and held against their will. From the standpoint of this allegation, it seems the state could potentially make an argument for the emergency removal of any females believed to be in imminent danger of abuse. In my estimation, since the age of consent in Texas is 16, this could reasonably be extended to include all girls aged 12 to 16 years old. However, the state has significantly overstepped this reasonable application by detaining all children, including nursing infants and boys who were not included in the allegations of abuse. Furthermore, there are also reports that some families within the FLDS community are more traditional monogamous ones. Even so, ALL children were removed without respect to individual due process.
I have had many heated discussions and read many blogs exploring all sides of the issue. I am frankly astonished by how many people are sympathetic to the government case, and express a general comfort and willingness to give up some freedoms for the sake of security, even if the evidence to support the case is flimsy, manufactured or non-existent. For my part, I feel compassion for the women and children of the FLDS community. I also believe specific individual violations of the law should be prosecuted. However, my real dog in this hunt is the Constitution, and my current understanding of the events leads me to the conclusion that our government has subverted the constitutional rights of somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 citizens. This is a tragedy for all of us, as well as the many thousands of Americans who gave their lives to defend the constitution in war and who continue to do so every day across this country. I am concerned our state government has systematically dehumanized and marginalized them by portraying them in the media as an abhorrent aberration. They have further justified detaining all these women and children, while admitting the initial cause for the warrant is bogus. If this precedent is allowed to stand, I envision any number of situations in which an activist can make anonymous phone calls because they do not approve of a lifestyle, and unleash chaos on our families in the name of saving the children.
I want to leave you with a final thought. It has been proven repeatedly beyond any doubt that many children have been abused at the hands of the leadership of the Catholic Church. Given the general knowledge of this fact, are we as a society prepared to accept that the government is now justified in storming the homes of all practicing Catholics and removing their children? Government tyranny is a slippery slope, and the road to serfdom is paved by such unchallenged abuses of power.
Governor Rick Perry
Attorney General Greg Abbott
Senator John Cornyn
Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson
Your Congressional Representative