Government Owns Our Castle

We can no longer use our property or do to it what we would like. Our homes are being micro managed by our government. No, while we were sleeping the government did not decree the end to private property, at least not yet.

We still own our homes and have to pay the mortgage and taxes. Private contracts such as house and land deeds are honored although the government has begun to enlarge its power to take away our rights as homeowners. Eminent domain was for the public good to build schools, roads and other community improvements. It now includes increasing the tax revenue for the government’s good as well as greedy pick-pocketing developers.

Americans have always felt that their “homes were their castles.” The home was a sanctuary under their control. They may not have had great material wealth but they knew a free man could do whatever he chose on his land.

Times have changed. Putting a shed up on your property means you now have to get permission and actually pay a permitting fee, “tithe,” to the local government. Changing your front door or merely painting a room, or upgrading your air conditioner or just changing a large appliance can require a permit. Our freedom to do what we want with our homes has been radically reduced.

Greedy bureaucrats are salivating realizing technological advances can be used to increase their invasion into our homes. Rural wells are being identified and recorded to have the information necessary to impose an unexpected tax on homeowners. These country residents, not the government, drill and maintain their own wells at their own expense to tap into God’s waters. Officials in some California counties want to control the air conditioning and heat temperatures in homes by the use of advanced electronic monitoring. In some urban areas smoking has even been outlawed in people’s own dwellings. The list of government intrusions into our homes is growing rapidly.

There are two main rationales the government uses for stealing our civil rights. According to local government any home improvement has to be inspected by government officials to insure it meets the current building code. This is supposedly to protect the owner and the potential next owner of the house from shoddy work by contractors. In reality it is just another way of controlling and taxing us. Even with “government inspections” any buyer with any brains would inspect the house himself or hire a professional before making a major commitment to buy a home.

The other is a socialistic rationale that the government must limit our rights for “the common good.” This translates into: “you cannot use this item according to your own needs” like air and water since other people in the world may need them more. The government arbitrarily determines a formula that charges you for carbon emissions or water. It is hard to argue for personal freedom when “city hall” is claiming they do this for our children’s future unless you realize all of this rationale is another bunch of bunk to take our hard earned money to expand government further into our pocketbook and lives.

We Americans are at the breaking point and need to draw a line in the sand. We must start somewhere. It is best to begin as close to home as possible. The loss of our rights in our own homes should be a wake up call. If we cannot stand up for our own liberty on our own property, we do not deserve to be free.

Doers are being penalized for being productive. The disincentives to industrious people will lead to totalitarianism but incentives to these same people will create a free, vibrant country. We should leave the good US citizens free to do things necessary to improve their lot in life, not tax them into poverty.

To begin we need to take back our castle:

• Question instead of sheepishly accepting any time the government is demanding money from us for improving our homes or consuming God’s gifts to man like water and air.
• Associate with other like-minded people to run candidates for office who want to protect our rights to be free. (Citizen’s cumulative decisions are more efficient and effective than government’s short sighted ones.)
• Call, email and speak directly to our representatives to enlarge, not restrict our freedoms.

We need to take back our castles or accept the all -powerful government’s approach to restricting rights and housing. Remaining oblivious to government’s erosion of our rights will leave us with no choice but dull, drab state built and run projects like other communist countries. America will deserve whatever happens: we fight for our freedoms or lose them.

Dr. Maglio is the author of Invasion Within and Essential Parenting. He is a psychotherapist and the owner/director of Wider Horizons School.

The Issue is Neglect Not Abuse

Through “group think,” the progressive elites made spanking an abusive act that most people believe is illegal. Although no law has been passed making spanking illegal in any state of the union it has turned many against parents who sternly discipline their children. Americans are being reported to government officials for doing their duty of teaching their children right from wrong. No parent wants government bureaucrats to march into their homes making their lives a living hell.

The response to this intimidation has been for parents to back off teaching their children appropriate behavior. Instead of giving an effective consequence like a spank on the toddler’s behind, parents have learned it is easier to ignore bad behavior. Parents intuitively know that not doing anything when their child acts out is less offensive than taking a stand in our PC culture. In our modern society when a child acts out parents usually just lazily tune out and do nothing.

Ignoring bad behavior produces a maladaptive child. When parents begin to dislike their own misbehaving children, they find ways to avoid being around them. This leads to leaving them a little later at after school programs or at friends' homes before coming to pick them up, going into another room to get away or just coming home later and later to spend less and less time with their child. By not being there, the parents are neglectful.

Neglect, not physical abuse is the number one culprit in damaging children in our modern culture.

“1 In 50 Infants Neglected or Abused, Study Shows,” is the title of an article by Mike Stobbe, April 4, 2008, Tampa Tribune, page 5. The title is misleading as almost 87% of the 1 in 50 children are neglected while only 13% of the children were abused. The overwhelming problem in America is parental neglect, not abuse.

Yet the brainwashing continues that any and all spanking is abusive while the main issue of neglect is kept quiet. The higher socioeconomic forms of neglect are not even being considered no less addressed.

Neglect is usually less traumatic than physical abuse although it can be even more damaging to a child’s development. Without parents dedicating their time and energy to training their children to societal standards, children will be deficient in emotional and social areas. Problems in these areas make children susceptible to drugs or alcohol because they have a strong need to fit in. The neglect of these children’s normal needs leads to antisocial and self-destructive behavior.

The profile of the majority of parental villains in our culture is not a crazed, violent parent but a detached, inconsistent one. A parent who emphasizes only the “show off” skills to impress people with his bright child while neglecting the emotional and social nurturing is creating a self-centered, ticking time bomb.

By concentrating on the extreme cases of physical abuse, we as a nation have handcuffed parents from doing their duty as the first teachers of their children. Frightened, absent or uninvolved parents cannot raise a healthy child.

For their first 18 years our society should expect parents to consider their children as one of their top priorities. In public citizens should compliment parents when they have well behaved children. Appropriate discipline of a rude child should receive a smile of approval instead of a frown of disapproval. A conscientious parent is a blessing to the children and to our nation.

Parents need to feel free to do all the things necessary to do their job. Kissing and spanking are natural practices of nurturing. We should not stigmatize these acts as potentially physical or sexual abuse or we suffer the consequences of parental non-involvement.

“Do gooders” in government and the media should step aside and leave parenting to parents. The family has proven to be the best social unit in producing healthy children. Parents need to be appreciated for all the sacrifices they make for their children not treated like perennial child abuse suspects.

Truly abusive parents stick out like a sore thumb and should be prosecuted by law enforcement not by overzealous “remake the world” social workers. Modern parents need to stop thinking about how they may appear abusive to “busy body know-it-alls” and act in the best interest of their child.

Dr. Maglio is the author of Invasion Within and Essential Parenting. He is a psychotherapist and the owner/director of Wider Horizons School. Visit: www.drmaglio.com.

Parents Expect Teachers to do the Parent's Job

“Obedience is the foundation of all learning.” Ben Franklin

Many children are told by their parents to eat their food and they don’t. Their bed time is 7:30pm and they mess around until 9 or10 o’clock. “Brush your teeth,” and the child merely pretends or does not do it at all. Finally the child crossed the line, looks straight at his parents and says, “No.” Most of this happens before they leave the toddler stage.

Too often students listen better to their teachers than to their own parents. The parents are not indignant about being ignored by their children. They are not ashamed of their inability to get their children to listen to them. These parents feel the lack of children following their commands is acceptable for them and the future of their children. It is not.

The explanation for their nonchalant attitude in disciplining is parents no longer view this as their responsibility. Eventually the child will reach school age and the teachers will train them. The modern parents lack of anxiety about the future of their child should be frightening to all of us. Functioning adults are necessary for a free society.

Teachers may have good intentions to change the bad habits of students but this is a monumental undertaking. The foundation of these behaviors was laid at home before they entered school. Parents will continue to take and uninvolved, lazy approach to disciplining until they realize they have the power to develop good habits to maximize the chances of the child’s success. Many parents ignore this reality as it is labor intensive.

It is easier to think everything will naturally fall into place as their child grows older. This may be true in a primitive culture although it is absolute nonsense in a highly civilized society. Skills and habits need to be demonstrated, practiced and perfected under the supervision of the parents to shape certain aspects of the child’s character.

Today’s parents believe they should not be held accountable for their child’s actions although they are ready to scrutinize each and every teacher’s impact on their child’s performance. They question every teacher’s methods to see how they are going to improve their child’s grades and behavior. Some parents even want to wash their hands of any and all responsibility for the child’s performance at school.

From the first day a child enters school, the handprint of the parent can be seen on the behavior of the child. Many children are well socialized knowing what to do at school although they may act the opposite at home. The inconsistent enforcement of the rules at home encourages the child to play manipulative games. These games push the limits enough to make the child think he won while the parents throw their hands up in frustration defeat. Many parents find it easier and more comfortable to isolate themselves from their children by doing their own activities without the children.

The children “win” disregarding the power of their parents but “lose” by developing bad habits. Instead of eating their entire meal, they eat only what they want. They often refuse to eat breakfast and play numerous games to avoid going to bed on time. These children don’t even follow commands and act as if they do not care about the punishments meted out. The parents are not only inconsistent but they begin to feel hopeless and powerless. Their last desperate hope is that their children will outgrow bad behavior by going to school.

Children may make a turn about in front of a new authority figure like a teacher but eventually their bad habits will resurface. Going to bed too late and not eating correctly results in a lack of energy, frequent illness and inability to concentrate. Frequent swings of attitude and performance in school can be traced to little structure and inconsistent discipline at home. The victim is the child.

When parents realize increasing structure and expectations at home positively affects the child’s education, they will correct the mistakes of the past. For many loving parents this empowers them to be more demanding and less wimpy in dealing with their children.

When parents become accountable for doing their parental duties they stop relying on teachers to be surrogate parents. This results in their children doing better in school.

The most beneficial activity parents can do to assist their child in school is to teach them to listen. When children follow the instructions of their fathers and mothers they are more likely to follow the directions of their teachers. In school the child who listens and does what he is asked usually does better than the child that does not. The ability to listen assures success in school.

Dr. Maglio is the author of Invasion Within and Essential Parenting. He is a psychotherapist and the owner/director of Wider Horizons School. Visit: www.drmaglio.com.