Max: Government Explained
Should Government Allow Children To Be Raised By Their Parents?
The spread of social-host laws [laws holding homeowners criminally liable for underage drinking in their houses] makes it harder to teach a European model here. True, it's unlikely that police are going to raid private homes when only parents and their kids are together. But social-host prosecutions can be quite aggressive; in 2002 a Virginia mom and stepfather were sentenced to eight years behind bars for serving their son and his friends for the boy's 16th birthday. The couple had collected car keys in advance, and no one was hurt. But after years of failed appeals, the mom and stepdad, now divorced, had to report to jail last year. (In the end, they had to serve only five months, not eight years.)
Most social-host laws give police expansive powers. According to data compiled by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, an organization based in Calverton, Md., that studies alcohol policy, only eight of 67 U.S. jurisdictions with social-host laws require that the homeowner have "actual knowledge" of underage drinking at the house to be charged with a crime. In other words, you can violate most social-host laws even if you are in another country when your kid decides to party. And under many social-host laws, a meal with wine served at a dinner table is treated no differently from a kegger if neighbors are present with their kids. In short, we are encouraging kids to leave their homes (presumably by car) and drink in parks or abandoned warehouses or anywhere else they think they won't get caught and their parents won't get arrested.
The answer to underage drinking? Take away parents' rights to determine if their children can have a glass of wine with dinner, or a beer while sitting on the porch with Mom and Dad. Break up families by sending parents to prison for exercising what most sane people consider to be a parent's right, nay duty, to educate their children about responsible drinking. Hold people legally liable for matters completely outside of their control.
Forget about people (children) dying due to the lack of health insurance. Forget about crumbling, dangerous schools. Forget that we are teaching an entire generation how to pass a standardized government test, rather than how to think, reason and learn. Forget about the shitty economy and the fact that we have no reasonable alternative to increasingly expensive energy sources purchased from people who will use our own money to fund attacks on us. Let's use the power of government to once again create a crisis where none exists and reduce the ever shrinking sphere of individual freedom.
The spread of social-host laws [laws holding homeowners criminally liable for underage drinking in their houses] makes it harder to teach a European model here. True, it's unlikely that police are going to raid private homes when only parents and their kids are together. But social-host prosecutions can be quite aggressive; in 2002 a Virginia mom and stepfather were sentenced to eight years behind bars for serving their son and his friends for the boy's 16th birthday. The couple had collected car keys in advance, and no one was hurt. But after years of failed appeals, the mom and stepdad, now divorced, had to report to jail last year. (In the end, they had to serve only five months, not eight years.)
Most social-host laws give police expansive powers. According to data compiled by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, an organization based in Calverton, Md., that studies alcohol policy, only eight of 67 U.S. jurisdictions with social-host laws require that the homeowner have "actual knowledge" of underage drinking at the house to be charged with a crime. In other words, you can violate most social-host laws even if you are in another country when your kid decides to party. And under many social-host laws, a meal with wine served at a dinner table is treated no differently from a kegger if neighbors are present with their kids. In short, we are encouraging kids to leave their homes (presumably by car) and drink in parks or abandoned warehouses or anywhere else they think they won't get caught and their parents won't get arrested.
The answer to underage drinking? Take away parents' rights to determine if their children can have a glass of wine with dinner, or a beer while sitting on the porch with Mom and Dad. Break up families by sending parents to prison for exercising what most sane people consider to be a parent's right, nay duty, to educate their children about responsible drinking. Hold people legally liable for matters completely outside of their control.
Forget about people (children) dying due to the lack of health insurance. Forget about crumbling, dangerous schools. Forget that we are teaching an entire generation how to pass a standardized government test, rather than how to think, reason and learn. Forget about the shitty economy and the fact that we have no reasonable alternative to increasingly expensive energy sources purchased from people who will use our own money to fund attacks on us. Let's use the power of government to once again create a crisis where none exists and reduce the ever shrinking sphere of individual freedom.
posted by Max Dobberstein at 6/23/2008 04:26:00 PM
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