Abolish Parenthood?

The headline in the Ventura County Star read, "California should abolish parenthood, in the name of equity."

Three days later the San Francisco Chronicle ran this headline: "California should force parents to give away their children."

You may recall that two years ago Black Lives Matter, after outrage from the public, scrubbed a page on its website that said their mission was to "dismantle the patriarchal practice" of the "nuclear family---one male that's a father, one female that is the mother, married, with kids."

Once again there's renewed discussion about the usefulness of the traditional, biblical family model.

Be informed, not misled.

The deception.

When Zocalo Public Square's Joe Matthews wrote an article that was published in the Ventura, CA. County Star, suggesting that California should abolish parenthood to achieve true "equity," other news sources immediately republished it. 

Three days later the San Francisco Chronicle published it. Others followed in California and elsewhere.

Quoting Plato, who adopted Socrates' sage advice in his "Republic", Matthews says children should "be possessed in common so that no parent will know his own offspring or any child his parents."

This, Matthews notes, was said to be necessary in order to defeat nepotism, prevent amassing great fortunes, and create citizens loyal not to their sons but to society.

Matthews writes that Gov. Gavin Newsom should formulate a new policy that would require parents to hand over their babies---quoting Plato.

The "solution," he says of the equity problem, is to "make raising your own children illegal," calling it "universal orphanhood."

As this story circulated last week, conservatives became outraged while "progressives" rubbed their chin and nodded in agreement. And republished the article. And discussed it with an air of elitism. 

Here's the problem. Matthews wrote the article as satire. In his own way, he was mocking the Left by calling on Newsom to abolish parenthood in favor of "equity."

Michael Barone wrote an article explaining how uninformed people missed the point.

The concern that every biblical Christian and conservative should have is that there are people in our country---some in powerful offices---who saw this satire as "the next step" in becoming a more "perfect union"---as they like to say.

Would anyone actually agree that "equity" trumps "family?"

Yes.

Back in 2020 when Black Lives Matter began their vertical rise to prominence, people turned to their website to learn more about them, according to the New York Post. 

They discovered the BLM website said this about traditional family:  

"We disrupt the Western-prescribed nuclear family structure requirement by supporting each other as extended families and 'villages' that collectively care for one another, especially our children, to the degree that mothers, parents, and children are comfortable."

When a prominent NFL sportscaster and former player challenged the statement publicly, BLM immediately scrubbed it off their site.

The New York Post noted at the time that this idea is a tenet of Marxism which has always sought to dismantle the nuclear family.

The founders of Black Lives Matter have publicly declared that they are both "trained by Marxists." 

We remember Hillary Clinton's book, "It takes a Village", where one section specifically focused on the notion that it takes a village to "raise a child."

Wikipedia says this:

"'It Takes A Village To Raise A Child' is an African proverb that means an entire community of people must interact with children for those children to grow in a safe and healthy environment." Then Hillary adopted it.

Very recently former Virginia Governor Terry McAuliffe, who was running for governor again, said: "I don't think parents should be telling schools what to teach." A few days later he lost the election to now Republican Governor Glenn Younkin---who made it clear that parents---not school districts, should raise their children.

And if you read Hillary's book back in the day---and I did, you know the book is flawed at its premise. Government is not a "village." Parents do not need government bureaucrats and federal programs to raise their children. The problems she outlined in her book are really a result of government programs put in place by so-called "progressives" who preceded her---i.e. the New Deal and Great Society programs.

Families don't need more government help. They need the government to back off and take its hands off the children. And the family.

Children need a mother, who is a woman, a father, who is a man---married to one another, to raise a child. They need a biblically-based church and pastor, and extended family is optimum.   

Hillary, according to her book, believes that any attempt to return to the "good old days" is naive and flawed. She mocks the good old days. Though at the time of publication, according to former Sec. of Education Bill Bennett's "Index of Leading Cultural Indicators" which compared social statistics from 1960 to the publishing of her "Village" book, the population had increased 41%, crime had increased 300%, and violent crime had increased 560%. The legitimate birth rate had increased 400%, the number of divorces had more than doubled and the number of children in single-parent homes had tripled.

All of these indicators are worse today than then.  And the policies that took us there culturally were birthed by the so-called  "progressives."

And they continue to cling to those kinds of failed ideas about culture.

Because it isn't really about helping children, it is about expanding political power. And most of us ordinary folks know it.

Takeaway

Daniel Webster, the great Senator from Massachusetts, told second-generation America, "Let us not forget the religious character of our origin." He said, "Our fathers were brought here by their high veneration for the Christian religion. They journeyed by its light, and labored in its hope."

Too many in our country have forgotten the "religious character of our origin" and have no clue why our country has been so blessed and so prosperous. We have forgotten God. We have dismissed Him.

Since the founding of our nation, particularly in recent years, there are those who have denied the values of our origin; devalued life with abortion on demand; dishonored marriage by demanding the institution created by God be "redefined," the Christian faith has been dismissed; Christian influence diminished, and religious freedom denied. 

There are those among us who are suggesting that for the sake of "equity", we must "deconstruct the traditional family model." It's only conversation in journalism and politics at this point, but be sure the secular left is standing in the wings waiting for a time when they can convince you to hand off your children to the state---because it takes a village.

Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Engaged. Be Vigilant. Be Prayerful.