Here’s a letter that I sent this morning to the Los Angeles Times:
In her open letter to Richard Riordan, Esther Jantzen starts off well by discussing the importance to children’s welfare of good parenting (“Dear Richard Riordan,” Oct. 15). But she soon goes completely off the rails by proposing “a federal and state Office of Parenting Education and a massive marketing campaign about best parenting practices.”
Has the Cult of Politicization become so hypnotic that sober people sincerely believe that all serious problems can be solved by government bureaucrats? Is this cult’s influence now so great that it blinds us to the reality that any “Office of Parenting Education” will be a stage upon which rival political extremes – from Biblical literalists to Vegan Nudists for Hemp – routinely joust with each other for influence over parenting? Do persons such as Ms. Jantzen not worry that a bureaucracy charged with “educating” parents will balloon, in budget and power, to eventually intrude itself into the most intimate and private aspects of family life?
Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux
Lest you think me to be over-reacting to the surely well-meaning Ms. Jantzen, take a look at the picture below, taken by my friend Joseph Henchman this morning on the D.C. Metro. TwoOfUs.org is a site brought to us by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. How disgusting.
In case you can’t read the text at the bottom of the photo, it says:
“Engagement ring, wedding ring, snoring? It takes more than love to make marriage work. But whether shouldering a cuddle or a good cry, he’ll be by your side whereever your journey takes you. Find marriage and relationship tools to help you along your path to happily ever after at TwoOfUs.org.”
