No Sects Please, We're Texan

In a remarkable burst of sanity in "the state where barbeque meets barbarism", namely Texas, the state Supreme Court has affirmed a lower court order to return many of the children who were spirited away from their parents, members of the FLDS group, by the so-called "Texas Department of Family and Protective Services". This agency -- like all government agencies charged with the "protection" of children -- clearly begins every day with the premise that parents (especially fathers) are the embodiment of evil, and that the truth is not in them. Their long-term project is to turn the entire country into a sort of kibbutz, where parents are tolerated as breeding machines but not trusted with the upbringing of their own children, who must be turned over to "trained specialists" and "experts", and "service providers". We can all be grateful for this one rebuff. But in the scheme of things, it is only a skirmish in a much wider war.

Having said that, I still question what on earth those people thought they were doing setting up a colony in Texas. Hadn't they ever heard of Waco? Were they seeking martyrdom? Well, if so, they partially succeeded, but also helped expose the social-control agenda of government at all levels... and for that we owe them thanks.