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| A chilling report from Brazil should serve as a warning to all American parents. Recent events reveal what happens when a nation abandons its traditional constitutional standard of parental rights and adopts the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC). On October 19th, the Education and Culture Committee of the Chamber of Representatives in Brazil unanimously rejected a bill that would have legalized homeschooling in that country. Families who dare to homeschool in Brazil are prosecuted and kept under government surveillance according to a recent story by Julio Severo on LifeSiteNews.com. Severo’s article traces the text of the Brazilian Constitution which contained provisions in the 1937, 1946 and 1967 versions that specifically affirmed the home as a place of education for children. However, the 1988 Constitution quietly removed these provisions at the behest of “leftist politicians,” according to Severo. This Brazilian journalist exposes the role that the CRC has played in this attack on fundamental parental rights. [An]other serious threat to the families’ rights in the education of their children has been the Child and Adolescent Statute (CAS), which is a direct product of the United Nations Children’s Rights Convention. CAS imposes many state interferences in the Brazilian families and their children, especially in the educational and health issues. CAS has been used by the Child Protective Services of Brazil to enforce the state ban on homeschooling, harass families and their children and put them under legal hardships. Finally, Severo calls for a new constitutional provision for Brazil to restore the traditional protection of parental rights in education.The parallels to the United States are unmistakable. The rights of parents to direct the education of their children were traditionally recognized by the U.S. Supreme Court as a high-level constitutional right. However, recent decisions of the Court have undermined that traditional standard and have unleashed a flood of federal appellate cases declaring that parental rights are lower-level rights which may be easily overridden by the government. Justice Scalia heads the list of jurists who have proclaimed that parental rights are not legally protected at all. At the same time, there are twin threats of the United States adopting the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Obama administration has repeatedly called for the ratification of this dangerous treaty which would supersede all state laws about families including laws which give parents control over the educational and medical decisions of their children. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court and lower federal courts have shown an increasing tendency to employ this UN treaty as valid legal precedent despite the fact that it has never been ratified by the Senate. We must not be the last generation of American parents who are truly free to raise our children. It is time to tell Congress to stop stealing our children’s future. It is bad enough that they have buried our children and grandchildren in debt for tomorrow so that they can buy votes today. We cannot sit by and watch America become Brazil. We cannot passively tolerate the erosion of our constitutional rights while the courts and the diplomats conspire to force us into a regime of international law. We must fight groups like the ACLU and Planned Parenthood who have attacked the Parental Rights Amendment. And we must educate those we would call friends who simply fail to recognize the absolute imperative of protecting the traditional sovereignty of the American family. These other groups have millions while ParentalRights.Org’s annual budget is under $500,000. Despite our tiny budget, we are the organization that successfully prevented ratification of the CRC. However, we have only stopped it for this term of Congress. The only permanent solution to all of the threats we face is the Parental Rights Amendment. I urge you to do three things. First, call both of your U.S. Senators and urge them to become original co-sponsors of the Parental Rights Amendment. Senator Jim DeMint from South Carolina has agreed to be the lead sponsor. (Find their contact info by clicking on your state at ParentalRights.Org/States.) Second, call your Representative in Congress and urge him or her to become an original co-sponsor of the Parental Rights Amendment. Rep. Trent Franks from Arizona, who chairs the Constitution Sub-Committee, has agreed to be the lead sponsor. Third, please make a generous donation of $50, $100, or even $500 to Parentalrights.org. Whatever you can give will sustain our efforts in this crucial time. What you do today will determine the future for generations to come. Will we have a family-based culture? Or will we, like Brazil, turn all decision-making over to government officials who think they know best? It is urgent that you act right now. Important meetings are taking place in Congress even as I write that will affect the Amendment. Please don’t close this email or webpage before you pick up the phone and call. America or Brazil? It’s your time to act. Michael Farris President, ParentalRights.Org    |
| P.O. Box 1090 Purcellville, VA 20134 * (540)-751-1200 * info@parentalrights.org |
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