ALL "RIGHTS"-NO RESPONSIBILITY

Philadelphia officials are taking aim on recent "flash mobs" that have erupted around the city. Mayor Michael Nutter reassured city residents they are safe during a news conference at Headhouse Square Wednesday.

...Officials said parents must take responsibility for their children, or they could face charges if their kids participate.

"I ran for mayor, I didn't run for mother. I can't take care of everybody's child," Nutter said.

...The police commissioner even lashed out at parents of teens involved in the melee.

"You had them, you raise them, you take care of them. When they come to me, I got something else for them," Ramsey said."
CBS3

I just love all this tough talk to parents; "You had 'em, you raise 'em" and how the parents are going to be held responsible for the actions of the kids.

Well, here's the deal. We aren't allowed to "raise 'em" anymore. Our kids have been given "rights" by the same government that now wants to hold us responsible for their actions. It gave them these "rights" without ever once explaining to them that with "rights" come responsibilities. Maybe that's only true of real rights, though. And the ones the government gave them aren't real because the kind it gave them stops parents from any effective form of discipline. The kind of "rights" kids have been given intrude upon and destroy the real rights to parental authority that parents possess. And real rights cannot infringe on the rights of another.

If my kid decides to go on a rampage and I try to stop him he doesn't have to listen to me. If I try to physically restrain him, well he'll just call the police and I'll go to jail. So I'm forced to call the police, social services and who knows what other government agency and get them involved in my family and my life. All this does is strengthen the idea in the kids head that their parents really can't control them.

There is a relationship between rights and responsibilities and it goes both ways. Just as rights come with responsibilities, responsibilities come with rights. If I am responsible for something it only stands to reason that I have to be able to exert control over it. If parents can't spank, yell at or restrain their children when needed then they can't control them. If kids can run to the government to over rule the decisions of their parents then their parents can't control them. If kids think they've been "done wrong" and a simple complaint (childish whining) to a counselor at school can turn loose the force of government against the parent, then the parent can't control them. If society refuses to recognize the God given right of parents to raise their kids as they see fit, then the parents cannot be held responsible for the action of the child.

I guess I grew up in a different time. While I was seldom spanked (seldom, not never), I knew that it could happen. I knew where the authority in my life was centered. It was my parents. There was no place to hide. If I lived in my parents house I lived by my parents rules. And every other adult that I came into contact with was part of the conspiracy. From the teacher to the cop, from my friends parents to the priest, they all conspired to hand me over to justice. Usually after they had exacted some of their own.

And I knew that the only truly safe haven was at my parents house. So my choices were rather limited; do as I was told and keep a roof over my head and a warm bed to sleep in or hit the road. Obviously we weren't as smart as the kids today because the choices were kept much simpler.

Kids aren't old enough or wise enough to be given the kinds of authority they are given today. And since most have been coddled by parents that worship the ground their kids crawl on, they are even less prepared to accept responsibility than we were. They aren't responsible yet they have "rights"; and we are held responsible. Just like everything else in this Satanic Utopia we live in this is all turned on it's head and backwards.

So I leave our children with a bit of advice I got from my Dad on a fairly regular basis, "Kids are meant to be seen and not heard. I'm only going to tell you this once."

We never felt that special. As a "product of a moment of lust" (thanks, Dad), I knew my place in the world. And so did all the rest of us. We learned responsibility before we were trusted with rights. That's they way it is supposed to be.