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http://www.courier-journal.com/apps/pbcs.d...ION01/510090384
Licensing parents
The conservative mantra is that government should stay out of people's lives, to the greatest extent possible.
But then what do political labels mean when George W. Bush can bill himself as a conservative while (1) presiding over a massive and avoidable runup in national debt, (2) pushing the biggest new federal entitlement since Medicare and (3) provoking the broadest-ever federal invasion of state educational prerogatives?
This is a conservative who, to get out of political trouble after Hurricane Katrina, decided to say that racism is linked to poverty and proposed that the feds throw money at the rebuilding instead of letting the private market take its course.
Now comes Indiana state Sen. Patricia Miller, an Indianapolis Republican, with a plan to have government bureaucrats run pre-pregnancy checks on potential parents, including making sure they regularly go to church or some other "faith-based" activity, before a doctor can help them have a baby.
Talk about "Big Brother" meddling in people's lives.
Oh, but the proposed law would apply primarily to single people and homosexuals, so maybe the Righteous Right will approve of this profound, and seemingly unconstitutional, government intrusion into private decisions.
Sen. Miller is not some marginal Indianapolis crank. She chairs the legislative Health Finance Commission, which will vote on the proposal Oct. 20.
Her idea is that prospective parents, if they are single or gay, should be "assessed" on the basis of not only marital status but also education, job, personality, criminal record, fertility history, child care plans and lifestyle, including participation in organized religious activity, before being allowed to receive any reproductive help from medical specialists.
Indiana Civil Liberties Director Ken Falk rightly asks, "What is the danger that we are legislating against? Are we saying that only married persons should be able to be parents…?"
To which Sen. Miller replies that she is just being proactive. In other words, she wants to act before Indiana is endangered by a bunch of unchurched, non-government-certified parents.
Although the draft isn't clear on this point, a news report says the proposal "would appear to affect some married couples," too. When you think about it, it would almost have to if the Hoosier parent police are going to able to make sure single and gay people aren't disguising their impermissible parental desires in sham marriages.
This proposal ought to make real conservatives shiver. Instead, at least some of them are aquiver over putting the hand of government to work on behalf of their religious beliefs.
What next, driver's licenses granted only to those who pray regularly, on the theory that God's favor makes them better risks?
Licensing parents
The conservative mantra is that government should stay out of people's lives, to the greatest extent possible.
But then what do political labels mean when George W. Bush can bill himself as a conservative while (1) presiding over a massive and avoidable runup in national debt, (2) pushing the biggest new federal entitlement since Medicare and (3) provoking the broadest-ever federal invasion of state educational prerogatives?
This is a conservative who, to get out of political trouble after Hurricane Katrina, decided to say that racism is linked to poverty and proposed that the feds throw money at the rebuilding instead of letting the private market take its course.
Now comes Indiana state Sen. Patricia Miller, an Indianapolis Republican, with a plan to have government bureaucrats run pre-pregnancy checks on potential parents, including making sure they regularly go to church or some other "faith-based" activity, before a doctor can help them have a baby.
Talk about "Big Brother" meddling in people's lives.
Oh, but the proposed law would apply primarily to single people and homosexuals, so maybe the Righteous Right will approve of this profound, and seemingly unconstitutional, government intrusion into private decisions.
Sen. Miller is not some marginal Indianapolis crank. She chairs the legislative Health Finance Commission, which will vote on the proposal Oct. 20.
Her idea is that prospective parents, if they are single or gay, should be "assessed" on the basis of not only marital status but also education, job, personality, criminal record, fertility history, child care plans and lifestyle, including participation in organized religious activity, before being allowed to receive any reproductive help from medical specialists.
Indiana Civil Liberties Director Ken Falk rightly asks, "What is the danger that we are legislating against? Are we saying that only married persons should be able to be parents…?"
To which Sen. Miller replies that she is just being proactive. In other words, she wants to act before Indiana is endangered by a bunch of unchurched, non-government-certified parents.
Although the draft isn't clear on this point, a news report says the proposal "would appear to affect some married couples," too. When you think about it, it would almost have to if the Hoosier parent police are going to able to make sure single and gay people aren't disguising their impermissible parental desires in sham marriages.
This proposal ought to make real conservatives shiver. Instead, at least some of them are aquiver over putting the hand of government to work on behalf of their religious beliefs.
What next, driver's licenses granted only to those who pray regularly, on the theory that God's favor makes them better risks?
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