Saturday, April 12, 2008

Registration Leads to Confiscation

Registration leads to confiscation. This true of gun registration. And it is also true of Michigan Democrats' latest plan to force home-schoolers to register with the government.

Michigan home-schoolers recently held a rally in Lansing to protest HB 5912, sponsored by many Democrats. Legislators have reportedly been flooded with mail on the issue.

What's the point of registration? Home-schooling is perfectly legal in Michigan, not to mention a fundamental human right. Why should home-schoolers have to identify themselves to the government?

The only argument offered in the article is the following.

State Rep. Joan Bauer, D-Lansing, said the bill will help address questions of truancy, as school officials will know if students are being home-schooled or simply not showing up to school.
If parents are homeschooling, they will know whether or not their children are truant. If students are not enrolled in school, then parents must not want them to be, so they aren't truant. If there are any legitimate questions about truancy, they can be resolved by simply asking the parents. There is no need for a giant database.

"I think it's reasonable that we know where and if our children are being educated, whether it's in a public school, private school, or at home," said Bauer, who co-sponsored the bill.
Our? Who's we? Rep. Bauer is saying here that children belong to the government, not parents. They aren't your children, Joan.

Wisconsin, California and Arizona have registration requirements similar to the proposed Michigan legislation.
What's the big deal? Home-schooling could never be outlawed, right? Well, in California, a judge recently ruled that home-schooling is illegal. This ruling endangers 166,000 home-schoolers in California. The case is currently under review.

In Utah, a paperwork error by a local school district gave a liberal judge an excuse to order that children be taken away from a family. They had to flee the state.

In Germany, a family has been repeatedly harassed by the government for home-schooling. Their daughter was taken from them, and they were forced to flee the country.

It was only a few decades ago that home-schooling was illegal in Michigan and most other states.

One major advocate for this bill is bound to be the MEA. The more children who can be forced into government schools, the more money for the teachers unions.

Home-schooling threatens government, because home-schoolers don't get government indoctrination about how much we need government. That's why statists want to restrict it.

This bill must be defeated.

2 comments:

Jody said...

Don't forget too the schools don't get money for those homeschoolers. What better way to keep an eye on them to so they can harass homeschooling parents and try to get them in the school system to get their precious money ugh.

Dan said...

$6000+ for each student who is in a government school. Money talks, and that's what this is about.