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De Omnibus Dubitandum - Lux Veritas

Sunday, December 22, 2013

Government hates rivals: Ohio's crack down on homeschooling assumes parents are abusive until they prove otherwise

A proposed Ohio law would require homeschooling parents to get approval from local authorities....
By TIMOTHY P. CARNEY DECEMBER 18, 2013
Here's a good way to understand politics in America: The State, and its boosters, use State power to shackle or crush its rivals, such as the Church, private charity, local community and the free market.
This is at play in the Obama administration's contraception mandate and the current stage in the gay marriage fight, which involves outlawing commerce by those who don't accept gay marriage. This is in evidence in the writings of liberals who argue that defending voluntary association is trying to "eliminate any notion of the public" or writers who are "tired of religious groups operating secular enterprises [hospitals, schools], hiring people of multiple faiths, serving the general public, taking taxpayer dollars -- and then claiming that deeply held religious beliefs should exempt them from public policy."
But it's not just liberals who crack down on civil society -- it's also authoritarian Republicans. Witness Ohio's latest move, as described by the Cato Institute's Jason Bedrick:
" 'Teddy’s Law' treats all would-be homeschooler parents as child abusers until proven innocent. The legislation further assumes that all children belong to the state, as it requires families to seek permission from the government to home school their own children. They would have to submit to background checks and a social services investigation in which parents and children are interviewed separately. The law grants the agency the authority to deny the right to home school if it 'determines it is not in the best interest of the child,' without providing any guidelines as to how that determination should be made."
I expect, in coming years, more of an all-out assault on homeschooling and private education. We can't have people who reject the State's ideology "indoctrinating" our kids, can we?
 

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