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Stephen Baskerville
A Blog about the Divorce Regime, Family Court Corruption, and Government's War on Fathers Radio Interviews on Taken Into Custody
Over the next few weeks I will be doing a series of radio interviews based on my book Taken Into Custody. These are arranged with help from a generous benefactor with the cooperation of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children (ACFC). The firm helping with arrangements, Spence Media, report that "your topic really hit a cord" with producers, and they are eager to have me on. This indicates that we should be much more aggressive in pursuing media for our cause. The media and the public are sympathetic and anxious to hear our message.
Here is a tentative list of upcoming shows, starting today. Please circulate these to your lists right away, and ask people to tune in and (when possible) phone in. Thanks.
Wednesday, October 28th
10:15 am ET
20 Minutes-Taped
Host is Teresa Tomeo
WDEO -- Based in MI
Catholic Connection
National Market
Wednesday, October 28th
2:45 pm ET
Host is Steve Deace
WHO - Based in IA
Top 100 Market
Friday, October 30th
11:30 am until 11:45 am ET
Host is Doug Giles
Clash Radio -- Based in FL
Religious -- National Market
Saturday, October 31st
6:50 am ET
Host is Don Russell
WBT -- Based in NC
Charlotte's Morning News Weekend"
Secular -- Top 50 Market
Monday, November 2nd
11 am ET
25 Minutes
Host is Ted Elm
"Northland Notebook"
Based in MN - Religious
Monday, November 2nd
5:30 pm ET
30 Minutes
Host is Todd Wilkins
KSIV
Issues, Etc.
Religious -- Top 25 Market
Sunday, November 15th
8:30 until 9:30 pm ET
1 Hour
Hosts are Pastor Brian Runge & Pastor Schultz
KKHT
"Truth Alive" -- Religious
Based in TX ]]> Review of TIC, with Baldwin
A review of Taken Into Custody has just been published by the economist Jennifer Roback-Morse in the prestigious scholarly journal, The Family in America. She reviewed it together with Alec Baldwin's book on his divorce ordeal, A Promise to Ourselves, so it is sure to get attention. An excerpt is below.
The Family in America has been expanded into a full-length journal and contains other valuable articles on the family. In fact, I have an article due out in the next issue.
http://www.familyinamerica.org/roback.php
Excerpts:
"With penetrating insight, the political scientist exposes the truly breathtaking consequences of no-fault divorce for the expansion of state power and the decline of personal autonomy."
"...enforcing the divorce means an unprecedented blurring of the boundaries between public and private life. People under the jurisdiction of family courts can have virtually all of their private lives subject to its scrutiny. If the courts are influenced by feminist ideology, that ideology can extend its reach into every bedroom and kitchen in America. Baldwin ran the gauntlet of divorce industry professionals who have been deeply influenced by the feminist presumptions that the man is always at fault and the woman is always a victim. Thus, the social experiment of no-fault divorce, which most Americans thought was supposed to increase personal liberty, has had the consequence of empowering the state."
"Baskerville makes the case in this book—as well as his 2008 monograph, "The Dangerous Rise of Sexual Politics," in The Family In America—that at least some of the advocates of changes in family law certainly have intended to expand the power of the state over the private lives of law-abiding citizens." ]]> The American Conservative: “Married to the State”
My article, "Married to the State," has just been published in The American Conservative, online edition.
A longer, scholarly version of this argument will be published in the January 2010 issue of The Family in America: A Journal of Public Policy.
TAC has published 3 previous articles of mine in their print edition:
"Fathers Into Felons"
"The Fathers' War"
"Violence Against Families"
******************************
Married to the State
How government colonizes the family
By Stephen Baskerville
In 1947, with the baby boom in its infancy and few disposed to hearing of family crisis, Harvard sociologist Carle Zimmerman saw the long-term reality: the family had been deteriorating since the Renaissance and was nearing the point of no return. Whenever the family shows signs of dysfunction, Zimmerman observed, "the state helps to break it up." During the 19th century, "law piled on law, and government agency upon government agency" until by 1900 "the state had become master of the family." The result, he wrote in Family and Civilization, was that "the family is now truly the agent, the slave, the handmaiden of the state."
To read the rest, go to: http://www.amconmag.com/blog/married-to-the-state/. ]]> Another New Crime: “Bullying”
The criminalization of fathers and parents generally is closely followed by the criminalization of children, especially boys. One manifestation is new laws against "bullying", another new quasi-crime with no precise definition.
According to the Associated Press this week, "Anti-bullying laws lack any regular enforcement" (The Washington Times, 15 September 2009, p. B3.). This is not surprising.
Georgia is said to have an anti-bullying law that is "among the toughest in the nation", according to the AP. But against what and whom precisely does it protect? Apparently "the state doesn't collect data specifically on bullying occurrences," so we do not know precisely how much bullying there is. And how can we, since no one knows precisely what constitutes "bullying"?
As with other new nebulous crimes proceeding from the sexual revolution -- like "domestic violence," "child abuse," and "sexual harassment" -- we are relying here for our evidence of this problem on "reports" that may or may not be "confirmed" (by whom? government officials?) but are not likely to be adjudicated as we usually understand that term -- i.e., by a jury trial or other due process protections. "Bullying experts point out that the rising numbers may reflect more reports of bullying, not necessarily more incidents," says the AP. Here too the definition becomes highly subjective. "Many children reported teasing, spreading rumors, and threats." So teasing and spreading rumors are now against the law? "How do you quantify bullying?" a school official asks, sensibly enough. "It could even be as simple as a rolling of the eyes." For this students will be prosecuted? Or simply punished? How, for "a rolling of the eyes"?
The AP writes that "Most states require school districts to adopt open-ended policies to prohibit bullying and harassment." Open-ended indeed, since nothing else is possible. "It needs to be written into the law that bullying has the same consequences as assault," says Brenda High, who operates a web site revealingly called Bully Police. Then why not simply use the existing assault laws, if it really is violent assault. Or is it more "open-ended"? Like "a rolling of the eyes"?
What is striking is that the AP does not really even ask these questions or probe any deeper into this alleged problem of criminal justice and neither apparently do many of the officials who would have us believe that we need yet more criminal statutes and law enforcement machinery.
It may well be that bullying is a growing and even rampant problem. The important point here is that traditionally it was fathers that protected their children against bullies or taught them how to handle themselves against bullies and prevented them from themselves bullying others. But having eliminated fathers, the single mothers can only protect their own children by ever more police power and by lobbying the state to criminalize more of other people's children.
Once again, eliminate the fathers and increase the power and reach of the state. ]]> WorldNetDaily: “Molested by the State”
My article, "Molested by the State," is published today on WorldNetDaily:
----------------------------------------------
Molested by the state
----------------------------------------------
Posted: September 12, 2009
1:00 am Eastern
By Stephen Baskerville
© 2009
A recent United Nations report advocates giving mandatory instruction in masturbation to children as young as 5. "Sexuality education is part of the duty of care of education and health authorities and institutions," according to the U.N.
Entitled "International Guidelines on Sexuality Education," the document is published by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, or UNESCO. The entire document is a manifesto for governments to assume control over the "sexual education" of children, to inculcate in them politically correct ideas about sex and sexual politics, and to undermine and marginalize their parents.
To read the rest: http://www.wnd.com/index.php?pageId=109563 ]]> Fagan’s Paper Published
Pat Fagan's paper delivered at the World Congress of Families in Amsterdam last month, mentioned in the last post, is available here. Note this important passage toward the end:
...in the protection of the family, men have the special role of being the primary protector. Thus, in this political competition for peaceful coexistence, the male needs to especially engage the increasingly hostile state and the polygamy culture whenever it "raids" the territory of his family's domain. ... We can wait no longer; we need men of courage and energy. We are looking for the first few.
]]> Pat Fagan at World Congress of Families
Patrick Fagan of the Family Research Council also presented a striking paper at the World Congress of Families in Amsterdam earlier this month, in which he called specifically on men to exercise leadership in the pro-family movement. "Let monogamous men get serious about protecting their children and their families, and obtaining justice for them," Fagan said.
Leaders of the conservative pro-family movement have been reluctant to call attention to the government's abuse of men and fathers for fear of inflaming a gender war. But it is becoming too conspicuous to ignore. The destruction of families and the destruction of fatherhood are inseparable, and it is no accident that they are being seen together.
Fagan also warned that the government increasingly "snatches children away from their parents" through three areas of public policy: "education of children, sex education, and adolescent health." Some might want to add that even larger numbers of children are being seized through the machinery governing divorce and child custody.
Fagan's paper is summarized here, but I shall also try to obtain a copy for posting. ]]> World Congress of Families Talk
Thanks for Ad Verdiesen of the Netherlands, part of my talk at the World Congress of Families in Amsterdam is now on YouTube. So far, it seems to be the only presentation at the Congress so honored. Other speakers did mention the plight of divorced parents however. During the same panel, Babette Francis of Australia described the injustices at some length, and others mentioned them too. No one objected to this message, and on the contrary, it was well received. This was a major event, extensively covered in the Dutch media and often the subject of commentaries in English. The word is getting out.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFRBegsm3n4
Stephen ]]> Review: Carle Zimmerman, Family and Civilization
My review of Carle Zimmerman's classic Family and Civilization, recently reissued by ISI Books, has just been published in Society, a very prestigious scholarly journal. Society is not esoteric or highly specialized, and so it is very influential. Unfortunately, it is not online, and Society is very scrupulous about guarding its copyright. Information on how to obtain a copy and the first page are on the links below.
Unlike today's advocates for the family, Zimmerman (writing in 1947) has a lot to say about divorce and its role in family deterioration. He also emphasized the direct role of government in destroying families, arguing in effect that the state and the family have been on a collision course throughout modern history. Occasionally, he even takes a dig at family court, which even in his day was engaging in abuses that have since become much more widespread. I highlight these aspects in the review.
Stephen Baskerville
**************************
http://www.springerlink.com/content/g3232524710725l2/
http://www.springerlink.com/content/g3232524710725l2/fulltext.pdf?page=1
Carle C. Zimmerman, Family and Civilization
Edited by James Kurth. Wilmington, DE: ISI Books, 2008. xiii + 337 pp. $18.00. ISBN-10: 1933859377; ISBN-13: 978--1933859378
Stephen Baskerville
A society grappling with a declining birthrate, proliferation
of single-parent homes, and government policies that
undermine parents and families will find it sobering to learn
that some were sounding the alarm decades ago, even in the
apparently family-friendly post-war years, and that the trends
were developing long before that. Even more disturbing is
that the same ills plagued ancient civilizations—shortly
before they collapsed.
A publishing event of major importance is the re-issue of
Family and Civilization by Harvard sociologist Carle Clark
Zimmerman (1897--1983). Originally published in 1947,
the book is a classic of family scholarship, though as Allan
Carlson explains in the introduction, it has largely been
ignored by the academic elite.
Zimmerman demonstrates how the fragmentation of the
family in Greece and Rome preceded the disintegration of
those civilizations and how similar trends now threaten our
own. Writing as the post-war baby boom (a temporary
aberration, it turns out) was just beginning and the family
appeared to be on a major upsurge, Zimmerman identified
long-term trends that are only now reaching general
awareness.
Polybius noticed "a low birth-rate and a general decrease
of the population" in Greece during the second century BC.
In modern Europe birth rates have been falling since the late
nineteenth century and were below replacement level by
1930. This falloff reflected a larger renunciation of the
family as a social and personal institution, what Zimmerman
calls "familism." "The extinction of faith in the familistic
system in Europe in the last two generations is identical with
the movements in Greece during the century following the
Peloponnesian Wars and in Rome from about 150 AD to 250
AD," he wrote: "In each case the change in the faith and
belief in family systems was associated with rapid adoption
of negative reproductive rates, increased acceptance of
perverted forms of sex behavior, and with enormous crises
in the very civilizations themselves."
One can come away from Zimmerman's book very
pessimistic—from the realization that today's trends have
been developing not for decades but for centuries, from
knowing that our Greek and Roman predecessors were
unable to prevent similar crises, and because the demographic
and cultural trends seem beyond the reach of public
policy. Readers witnessing continuing family deterioration
six decades later may conclude that the prognosis for
Western civilization is bleak indeed.
And yet while demography and culture are major
themes, they are not wholly determining. While he does
not state it explicitly, a striking feature of Zimmerman's
analysis, and one that offers some hope, is that the decline
of the family—really, the attack on the family—is not a
matter simply of impersonal forces but the direct and
conscious work of the state. Over and over, Zimmerman
points out how the state views the family as a threat, how
the state eviscerates the family, the state sponsors antifamily
intellectuals, the state seeks supremacy over the
family and society in general.
Zimmerman writes of the "relation between the type of
family and strong central governments," arguing that
historically it was in their absence that the family developed
most extensively. Later, "Strongly developed central governments
made the internal cohesion of family groups less
and less necessary." Whenever the family shows signs of
dysfunction, "the state helps to break it up." The state...
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Fathers & Families
Fathers & Families Mothers Who Share Parenting: ‘It's simply co-parenting--putting the needs of your children front and center’
“I am often astounded at the parenting arrangements I see that are anything but shared.” Longtime Fathers & Families supporter Lisa S. Ebert, JD, Director of Sponsored Programs and Research at the City University of New York, is a mother who shares parenting. Below, she tells her story. Shared Parenting -- It Should be the Norm By Lisa ... ‘When I arrived home that day, I told my dad what happened…he was so proud of me for having the courage to face my fear…’
Patience Gbedema, an immigrant girl from Ghana, learned an important lesson from her father when students made fun of her and her accent. She recounts her story in The Courage of Boston’s Children, as part of the Max Warburg Courage Curriculum’s “Courage in My Life” sixth grade language arts and character development curriculum used in ... Fathers & Families Hosts Debate Between 2 Leading Domestic Violence Authorities (Round II, Part I)
Domestic violence and the DV policies of family courts and law enforcement is a multi-faceted issue that has an enormous impact on American families. Fathers & Families is hosting a debate between two of North America’s leading domestic violence authorities, feminist DV expert Professor Evan Stark, Ph.D, MSW, and dissident DV expert Dr. Donald G. ... Slate.com & Salon.com Criticize the Fatherhood Movement (Part VI)
Two major online publications–Salon.com and Slate.com–recently did articles criticizing the men’s and fathers movement. Whenever the fatherhood movement and its opponents clash directly, there is an opportunity for all on both sides to listen and learn, so I’m writing several posts on these two articles. My first two posts dealt largely with a misleading quote ... Slate.com & Salon.com Criticize the Fatherhood Movement (Part V)
Two major online publications–Salon.com and Slate.com–recently did articles criticizing the men’s and fathers movement. Whenever the fatherhood movement and its opponents clash directly, there is an opportunity for all on both sides to listen and learn, so I’m writing several posts on these two articles. My first two posts dealt largely with a misleading quote attributed ... Slate.com & Salon.com Criticize the Fatherhood Movement (Part IV)
Two major online publications–Salon.com and Slate.com–recently did articles criticizing the men’s and fathers movement. Whenever the fatherhood movement and its opponents clash directly, there is an opportunity for all on both sides to listen and learn, so I’m writing several posts on these two articles. My first two posts dealt largely with a misleading quote attributed ... HuffPo Writer Sides with Sandra Bullock & Husband in Custody Battle, Quotes F & F
“We see this all the time where the ex-wife lives with a crazy, harmful boyfriend who can’t see his own kids because the court has prohibited him because he may have been convicted of drugs or abuse. Yet he can live with another father’s kid,” says Glenn Sacks, the executive director of Fathers & Families. ... Slate.com, Salon.com Agree to Fix Misleading Attribution in Piece Criticizing Fatherhood Movement
Two major online publications–Salon.com and Slate.com–recently did articles about the men’s and fathers movement. Kathryn Joyce’s DoubleX/ Slate.com article appeared to attribute the views of another activist to me, and Salon.com’s Judy Berman picked up on it and publicized the misattribution. I wrote to both Slate.com and Salon.com asking for a correction and, to their credit, ... Joba & Harlan Chamberlain: ‘We Did It, Dad’
Young New York Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain was raised by a single father, Harlan Chamberlain, who was partially crippled with polio as a child and grew up in foster homes. Harlan also raised Joba’s sister. The Yankees recently beat the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series, and there were several special father-child moments in the ... |
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FreeRangeKids
Give Our Kids the Freedom We Had Dear Santa: Are You A Sex Offender?
Hi Readers — What’s Christmas without a little overkill, this time at the hands of the U.S. Postal Service? It is acting to keep our children “safe” — and joyless! That’s the true spirit of the season, the way things are going. The Post Office is afraid of sex offenders responding to childrens’ letters to [...] ]]> Outrage of the Week: No Wine In Front of The Kids
Hi Readers! Here’s an advice column that had me reaching for the scotch. And I don’t even drink: Dear Amy: My husband and I adore our grandson, who is a toddler. We watch him at our house overnight two times a month while his parents attend art classes. Now that he is getting older, my daughter would [...] ]]> “Can These Parents Be Saved?” asks TIME Magazine Cover Story
Hi Readers — Wow. This is my dream article, and (perhaps) not just because it is high on Free-Range Kids! Check it out! Yay, Time! And please allow me to quote a part I find particularly salient: Obsessing about kids’ safety and success became the norm, a kind of orthodoxy took hold, and heaven help the [...] ]]> Beware the Creepy Guy Offering You A Ride, Kids! …Or Not.
Hi Free-Rangers! You’ll like this one. And greetings from Boston where I’ve come to give a talk and also meet with the so-called “Sandwich Moms”! (A lovely group of moms from Sandwich who believe in Free-Ranging. Always nice to meet fellow believers!) — Lenore  ]]> Outrage of the Week Update: Teacher Who Let Kids Climb Cliff on Trial
Hi Folks! Remember the case of Lia Grippo, the California mom who runs a day care center with a focus on nature? Her plight constituted our first Outrage of the Week. She let three of the kids in her care — two of them her own — climb a cliff while on a field trip to [...] ]]> Ding-Dong. Who’s There? The Safety Police!
That’s what’s happening in England, folks: A new proposal to have safety experts go into families’ homes to make sure they’re utterly safe, right down the stair guards. Woe to the family that babyproofs in a manner not approved by the state! Here’s the Times OnLine article about the new guidelines, and here’s a comment someone [...] ]]> There Was an Old Lady Who Lived in A Shoe, But She is Fine & Her Kids Are, Too
Hi Folks! When not busy blogging here (and lecturing, and writing non-blogs), I run a humor contest in the magazine The Week. My question is usually a wacky twist on something in the news and last week I was fed up with that pre-school TV show in England that had tinkered with the ending of [...] ]]> Parents Out to Get This Pre-K Teacher for “Endangering” Their Kid
Dear Readers — Take your chill pill FIRST. Then read on: Dear Free-Range Kids: I’d like to tell you about a recent experience of mine and would love to get your feedback. I am a mother of three children and a preschool teacher at a small, private preschool in my town. About two weeks ago, my class [...] ]]> Read it and Seethe: The Homework Files
Hi Readers! I’m writing this at 10 p.m., when my younger son is finally going to bed after (not quite) finishing his 6th grade homework. I am so sickened by the fact the school day extends ad infinitum — and basically ate up all of yesterday, too, a beautiful fall Sunday. Grrrr. Anyway, here’s a girl [...] ]]> |
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