(Originally appeared in the Telluride Daily Planet on 01/31/2005)
No child left unmedicated
Dear Editor,
In April 2002, President George W. Bush on Executive Order created the New Freedom Commission on Mental Health. This commission has recommended the universal mandatory mental-health screening of all school age children, and eventually all U.S. citizens. In Nov. 2004 a bill was introduced in the House of Representatives that would appropriate $20 million to create the infrastructure of a program that would begin the screening of all school age children for mental illness. Details and editorials can be found at: The Liberty Committee.
Congressman Ron Paul, MD (R-TX) expressed concern over the possibility of parents being found by the state as negligent for refusing mandatory screening or medicating of their children. He also explained that the federal government was again overstepping its constitutional constraints and initiating force against its citizens. His efforts did expose the issue of undermining parents' rights, but he was unable to dissuade the majority of our representatives from voting this bill into law.
Fortunately, Congressman Paul has not given up. He has introduced the Parental Consent Act of 2005 (H.R. 181) on the first day of the new 109th Congress. Simply and directly, this bill would prohibit the use of federal funds for any universal mental-health screening of our children. There is a petition urging House Speaker Dennis Hastert and House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to quickly schedule a vote on H.R. 181 that may be signed at: The Liberty Committee.
The San Miguel County Libertarian Party encourages you to urge your U.S. representative to cosponsor H.R. 181 and help Congressman Paul overthrow this authoritarian legislation.
Sincerely,
The San Miguel County Libertarian Party