December 16, 1997
Hide the kids, the Feds are coming
By Joseph Farah of the Western Journalism Center
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Early in his first term, President Clinton tried to launch the
biggest federal power grab in 20 years with his wife's ambitious
plan to "reform" the best health-care system in the world.
His grand plan was defeated. But he's learned a lot since then.
Much, if not most, of his radical health-care takeover has since
been completed -- quietly, incrementally, with the help of a
Republican Congress.
Emboldened by his political successes, Clinton is about to let
Hillary inspire his next broad socialist experiment -- "a major
initiative to help working families obtain child care."
Unlike the complicated, centralized, command-and-control health-care
plan, this one is certain to have appeal to Republicans in Congress
who have forgotten how to say no to new feel-good federal programs.
The program will combine federal subsidies, tax credits and block
grants to states.
Why? Because all the polling data say this is a winning issue with
middle-class voters -- families with two working parents as well as
those headed by single mothers or fathers.
We may be too far gone as a society to contemplate the following
question, but I'm going to ask it anyway. From where does the
federal government derive the authority to create such a program?
Under which provision of the U.S. Constitution would such a plan be
authorized?
Asking such questions in Washington, these days, is dangerous
business. You're likely to be labeled as an extremist just for
raising quirky matters like the U.S. Constitution.
Adding to the risk is that by opposing such a bill you are assured
to be labeled by the likes of Ted Kennedy, et al, as "anti-child."
The only thing that seems to count inside the beltway in 1997 is
whether an idea can be sold to the people. My guess is that this one
will be an easy sell for Clinton.
Those most likely to oppose the coming legislation in Congress say
there are 60 Senate votes awaiting practically any proposal that
comes down the pike touting itself as a child-care bill. Isn't that
amazing?
Even in the House, where reflexes are slightly less knee-jerk,
counter-proposals focus on reducing the amount of federal
allocations. The Republican philosophy, these days, seems to be: We
prefer to take a slower road to hell.
I don't understand Americans. Have they become so dumbed down by
generations of public schooling that they no longer understand the
American Dream? Have they forgotten the unique aspects of our
constitutional system of limited government? Or are they willing, as
our Founding Fathers feared, to trade their freedom for "security"
-- for a promise by government to "take care of them"?
If there's a problem with finding competent child care in America
today, it's a government-created problem in the first place. Who
forced most U.S. mothers into the work force? Wasn't this supposed
to be the key to liberation for women? What it turned out to be was
a ruse to create a bigger pool of taxpayers bound into virtual
indentured servitude to the federal government.
Sure, dual-income families earn more in gross receipts. But the
heavy increase in the tax burden has more than compensated for the
extra income. Now the government wants to help you raise your kids
so you can keep working for them. What a deal! And it won't cost you
that all that much more, really!
If the federal government really wants to help families with their
child-care needs, there's one way Washington really can help --
lower tax rates and give families a bigger deduction for
child-rearing. Wouldn't that be simple? Wouldn't that be effective?
No, we don't need any more programs that restrict our rights and
freedoms. We just need to keep a little bit more of our own money.
We know how to spend it. We know how to budget it.
Any other plan -- no matter how well-intended or well-meaning it
sounds -- must be rejected. Your elected leaders inside the beltway
think you're too stupid to raise your own children without their
help. Let them know they've done enough for you -- and to you --
already.
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Joseph Farah is editor of the Internet newspaper WorldNetDaily.com
and executive director of the Western Journalism Center an
independent group of investigative reporters.
http://WorldNetDaily.com
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