How Can We Protect Parental Rights?

Families are stronger when parents understand and fulfill their parental responsibilities, and strong families strengthen communities, states, and nations. However, families grow weaker when government takes over parental responsibilities.

According to Elizabeth (Troutman) Mitchell, a widowed mother lost her then-14-year-old daughter to the foster care system of California in 2016. Years later, the daughter regretted her attempts to transition, and her mother is raising a warning voice to other parents about allowing their minor children to “make irreversible changes to their bodies.” By the time that the daughter reached the age of 22, the mother and daughter were good friends, but their journey was far from easy. Mitchell wrote of the journey as follows. 

The mother of two, whose husband had died years earlier, was accused of emotional abuse for forbidding her teenage daughter from binding her chest and wearing male clothes. Her daughter was taken from the family and placed in a foster home for a few months….

The Daily Signal reviewed Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services documentation in which a social worker, referring to the then-14-year-old with he/him pronouns and a male name, details the daughter’s time in foster care, her accusations of emotional abuse against her mother, and her later renunciation of the claims.

The mother had to hire lawyers to regain custody of her daughter and clear her name of the abuse charges. The charges would have disqualified her from continuing to pursue a career as a Christian counselor.

After a few months in a packed foster home in a dangerous neighborhood, the daughter asked to come home. She admitted to lying about the abuse, saying that she got the idea to accuse her mother of abuse from people online who said that was the ticket to getting away from her family….

The mother hired two attorneys to get her teenager back and clear her name. She said she felt like Child Protective Services was looking for reasons to tear her family apart….

After the daughter returned home, she called social workers on her mother a few more times, accusing her mom of abuse for refusing to buy her male clothing. The mother received a California Child Abuse Central Index (CACI) violation for declining to take her daughter to a program at the Los Angeles LGBT Center for LBGTQ+ youths ages 2-25 called Rise….

At age 17, the daughter admitted to getting a prescription for testosterone from a therapist behind her mom’s back. She took it for a few days, but she told her mom she felt God was telling her to stop.

The mom said she couldn’t have gotten through the difficult time without her faith community. She left California a few years ago, partially because of how her parental rights were disrespected there….

This is not the first time the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services has taken a daughter away from her mother over transgender ideology….

Some states, such as California and Minnesota, are passing laws that allow the government to end parental rights over transgender issues. There is much information on the internet, and youth today are technically savvy in finding it. They are also quite capable of keeping such information secret from their parents until they are well indoctrinated in whatever topic that they are researching.

Wise parents will keep communication channels open with their children and be a safe place where their children can take their concerns and questions. Questions should also be wary of any distance that their child is putting between them. Parents must be aware of politicians who will aid in destroying parental rights and cast their votes for only those who will protect parental rights.

The family is the core unit of society in time and in eternity. We must protect the family and family responsibilities. We must support those individuals and organizations that support the family. We can keep our families strong, and strong families will strengthen our communities, states, and nations.

What Is the Latest Win in the Battle for Life?

The liberty principle for this Freedom Friday concerns free speech. According to Joshua Arnold in an article published at The Daily Signal, the latest win for life is about the abortion pill reversal. District Judge John L. Sinatra Jr. made the ruling. Arnold explained as follows. 

A federal district court ruled Thursday that pro-life pregnancy centers in New York may inform women “that the abortion pill reversal (‘APR’) protocol is safe and effective for a pregnant woman to use, with her doctor, to reverse the effects of a first chemical abortion pill and thereby, help to save the life of her unborn child.”

District Judge John L. Sinatra Jr., a Trump appointee, granted a preliminary injunction because the pregnancy centers are “likely to succeed on the merits of their First Amendment Free Speech claim, and they are suffering irreparable harm each day that their Constitutional freedoms are infringed.”

New York State Attorney General Letitia James, a Democrat, had initiated a civil enforcement action against 11 faith-based, pro-life pregnancy centers that were part of Heartbeat International to censor their speech, alleging that informing women about the APR protocol was “misleading advertising.”

In response to James, Alliance Defending Freedom challenged the constitutionality of her enforcement action in federal court, on behalf of National Institute of Family and Life Advocates, a pregnancy center network with 51 locations in the state, and two of its members, Gianna’s House and Options Care Center.

“Women in New York have literally saved their babies from an in-progress chemical drug abortion because they had access to information through their local pregnancy centers about using safe and effective progesterone for abortion pill reversal,” said Caleb Dalton, Alliance Defending Freedom senior counsel. “But the attorney general tried to deny women the opportunity to even hear about this lifesaving option.”

Elected abortion activists have sought to restrict pro-life pregnancy centers from offering the APR protocol, which literally reverses the work of a chemical abortion. In April 2023, the Colorado Legislature banned APR on similar grounds that it was ineffective. At first, the state agreed not to enforce that law, but a federal judge eventually enjoined the law in October on religious exercise grounds.

However, studies show that the APR protocol has saved the lives of over 5,000 unborn babies and has a success rate of up to 64%-68%.

“Many women regret their abortions, and some seek to stop the effects of abortion drugs before taking the second drug in the abortion drug process. Taking supplemental progesterone may give them a chance to save their baby’s life,” Dalton added. “Women should have the option to reconsider an abortion, and the pro-life pregnancy centers we represent in this case truthfully inform them about that choice.”

The right to speak freely is guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution. In this case, speaking freely and truthfully about the APR protocol can and does save the lives of unborn babies.

Is Tim Walz a Stooge for China?

News reports claim that Minnesota Governor Tim Walz, Democrat candidate for Vice President, visited China at least thirty times. Many people wondered why Walz would do so. The answer may be coming out into the open. An article by Robert Schmad, a reporter at the Daily Caller News Foundation, reported the following information. 

During his time in Congress, Democratic vice-presidential nominee Tim Walz worked to secure millions for a Minnesota-based lab that worked on a variety of projects with China’s Wuhan Institute of Virology, now widely seen as the source of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Walz, who is Kamala Harris’ running mate, worked to earmark a total of $7 million for the Hormel Institute in Austin, Minnesota, and praised the work of the publicly funded research institution, the Washington Examiner reported.

However, the Minnesota research center on multiple occasions worked with the Wuhan Institute of Virology in Wuhan, China, which many suspect was the origin point of the COVID-19 virus, including on COVID-19 research in 2020 and bacteria research in 2024….

The Wuhan Institute of Virology operates under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, which reports directly to the Chinese Communist Party’s State Council, the Examiner reported. The institute “has engaged in classified research, including laboratory animal experiments, on behalf of the Chinese military since at least 2017,” according to the State Department.

Lawmakers claim that there is evidence that the COVID-19 pandemic originated at the Wuhan Institute of Virology. In May, the federal government cut off funding to the EcoHealth Alliance, a publicly funded U.S. nonprofit that allocated subgrants to the Wuhan Institute of Virology for bat coronavirus research in part because the research it funded was not conducted with proper oversight.

Walz has described himself as a “strong advocate for The Hormel Institute” and has visited the research center to discuss how it can receive more federal funding, according to the Examiner.

In addition to collaborating with the Wuhan Institute of Virology, the Hormel Institute has also done considerable work with the Beijing Genomics Institute, which the U.S. Defense Department has designated a “Chinese military company,” meaning that it is “directly or indirectly owned, controlled or beneficially owned by” the Chinese military or otherwise a “military-civil fusion contributor to the Chinese defense industrial base.”

Walz has come under fire from lawmakers and conservative critics for his stance on China. The vice-presidential nominee has attended several events set up by members of a nonprofit connected to a Chinese Communist Party intelligence agency.

Schmad explained that in 1991, high school social studies teacher Walz taught his students that communism means “everyone is the same and everyone shares” while discussing life in Communist China.

Schmad also discussed an August letter written by House Oversight Chairman James Comer (R-KY) to the FBI. Comer explained that the committee recognized that “Gov. Walz has longstanding connections to CCP-connected entities and officials that make him susceptible to the party’s strategy of elite capture, which seeks to co-opt influential figures in elite political, cultural and academic circles to influence the United States to the benefit of the communist regime and the detriment of Americans.”

In addition, Comer’s letter to the FBI included this sentence: “Reporting about Gov. Walz’s extensive engagement with CCP officials and entities while serving in public office raises questions about possible CCP influence in his decision-making as governor – and, should he be elected, as vice president.”

When the Daily Caller News Foundation requested comments, neither the Hormel Institute nor the Harris campaign replied.

How Will You Commemorate September 11, 2001?

September 11, 2001, is one of those days that many Americans know exactly where they were when it happened. Other such days in my life include the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the attempted assassination of Ronald Reagan, and the attempted assassination of Donald Trump. They are all events that are difficult to forget because they had such an impact on our lives.

September 11 is one of those days that Americans use as a marker of the type of nation that America was before that day and what kind it was after that day. This site defines September 11 this way: 

The nation changed forever on September 11, 2001. Many Americans remember a country before and a country after, and for many young Americans, only a country after. Terrorist attacks causing tragic loss of life at the World Trade Center in New York City, the Pentagon in sight of the nation’s capital, and a quiet field in southern Pennsylvania led to conversations and reflection on American identity, patriotism, security, and service that resonate today.

September 11 became a National Day of Remembrance and a day of service. The actual event brought people “together to grieve family, friends, and strangers.” It has now been 24 years, and we still come together to grieve. A day sometimes known as “Patriots Day” or “Day of Remembrance,” September 11 is now “an annual day for many Americans to remember, reflect, honor, and mourn.”

The National Park System has the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, “as a memorial to 40 passengers and crew who thwarted an additional attack preventing the loss of more lives.” There are also memorials in New York City and the Pentagon. I have been to the site in New York City, and my hearts strings were pulled as tears recognized the devastation. There are other memorials in communities across the nation.

September 11 has also become a day of service. “To honor the spirit of sacrifice made that day and the sacrifices that continue to be made by community members, first responders, and members of the armed forces and their families, we unite in a National Day of Service happening in communities and public lands across the country.

The local units of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints performed acts of service across the country. Service opportunities are organized through JustServe.org. In checking the site, I found at least six ways to serve on September 11. 

Who Is Robert F. Kennedy Jr.?

My VIP for this week is Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy and the son of once-presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy. Both Kennedy brothers were assassinated. RFK Jr. was a candidate for POTUS but withdrew from the race to throw his support behind former President Donald Trump.

RFK Jr.’s withdrawal from the presidential race is causing more problems than his candidacy. Hans von Spakovsky discussed the RFK Jr. problems in an article published at The Daily Signal.

Early voting is starting in many states, both in-person and through the absentee balloting process, which makes resolving the issue of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. remaining on state ballots an immediate problem.

Wherever practical, election officials have a solemn obligation to their voters to remove a candidate from the ballot when that candidate has dropped out of the race so their votes aren’t inadvertently wasted if they are unaware of that fact.

That is why the refusal of election officials in Michigan and Wisconsin to remove Kennedy from the ballot is so troubling. A state court judge in Michigan also refused to force the secretary of state to remove Kennedy, bizarrely claiming that “elections are not just games” and that the secretary is “not obligated to honor the whims of candidates for public office.”

“Whims”?! Kennedy has ended his candidacy and is no longer running for president. Voters have a right to be fully informed of this when they are voting. That includes not being given the opportunity to waste their ballot by voting for a candidate who remains on the ballot due to the “games” the partisan secretary of state in Michigan is playing, even though that candidate is no longer in the race.

But even in states that claim it is “too late” to remove a candidate from the ballot and that it will be too expensive to redesign and print new ballots, election officials have a duty to inform their voters that a vote for a candidate like Kennedy, whose name remains on the ballot, will be a waste of their valuable franchise. And there is an easy and relatively inexpensive way to do that, which can be accomplished quickly and without any delay.

Von Spakovsky suggested two things that should be done immediately if States refuse to reprint their ballots without Kennedy’s name on them. His first suggestion is a simple but short notice such as the following being enclosed with every absentee ballot: “IMPORTANT NOTICE TO VOTERS: Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is listed on the ballot as a candidate for the office of President of the United States, has dropped out of the race and is no longer a candidate. Due to the late notice of his ending his candidacy, we were unable to prepare new ballots without his name. All voters should be aware that a vote for Robert F. Kennedy Jr. will be a vote for a candidate who is no longer running for office.”

Von Spakovsky’s second suggestion is for election officials to “create signs with this very same notification for posting prominently inside every polling location used in a state for both early voting and in-person voting on Election Day. Designing and creating such a sign can be easily and quickly done; and getting copies printed, again, by any commercial concern (or in-house in counties with printing facilities), could obviously be done with almost no delay.

However, the two above suggestions for notifying “absentee voters and preparing signs for in-person voting should be a secondary plan.” The first plan should be to “make every effort to reprint new ballots that correctly list the candidates actually running for office.” Von Spakovsky then gives his reason why officials should take the necessary steps.

Any refusal by election officials to, at a minimum, prepare such notices will be a

violation of their duty as public officials to fairly and honestly administer the upcoming election. Given the ease of this solution, it will be hard to imagine any refusal to implement it that is based on anything other than election officials engaging in partisan misbehavior that is intended to misinform voters and manipulate the results of the presidential election.

Election officials who engage in that type of misconduct are betraying the public trust and should not be in office.

There are reports that RFK Jr. won “historic legal victories” because “appeals courts in Michigan and North Carolina” struck “his name from the presidential ballot,” as he requested. 

Is Health Care Guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution?

The topic of discussion for this Constitution Monday is the Democrat claim about health care being a right and not a blessing. The Democrat Party platform in 2016 proudly proclaimed, “We believe as Democrats that health care is a right, not a privilege.” In 2020, the Democrat Party platform was “We must guarantee health care, not as a privilege for some, but as a right for every single American.” Now in 2024, the Democrat platform is “Health care should be a right in America, not a privilege.”

Democrats believe that if a lie is repeated often enough that people will accept it as truth. This only applies to those who do not study the U.S. Constitution. Health care is not a right! Steve McKee published an article at The Daily Signal about this topic. 

Decades before Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris began chanting the mantra, leftists [of] all kinds have seemed to believe endlessly repeating “health care is a right” will somehow make it true.

But it’s not. And claiming it to be one is lazy, ignorant of natural law, or just plain deceptive.

It’s important to first clarify that proponents of health care being a right are ultimately advocating for universal health insurance. All Americans already have access care at some level. More than 90% of the population is covered by private plans, Medicare, or Medicaid, and even those with no insurance whatsoever can’t be turned away from an emergency room for financial reasons.

Admittedly, that’s a limited and inefficient option that satisfies no one, but it’s the paying for health care, not the provision of it, that’s the core issue.

That pinpoints the problem of claiming health care as a right; namely, it ain’t cheap. I don’t know anyone who isn’t in favor of all Americans having convenient access to high quality care, but its provision, like the provision of any service, requires the labor of others.

That’s something no one can presume. As the cliché goes, your rights to swing your fist stop at the tip of my nose.

“Free” health care requires doctors, nurses, techs, and all the people who provide the equipment, machinery, medicine, and supplies in the vast health care system to unwillingly bear the cost. That’s not only immoral, it’s unsustainable. If beer, bread, and basketballs were free, there would soon be no beer, bread, and basketballs.

English Enlightenment-era philosopher John Locke wrote that we are all born with inalienable natural rights that are God-given and can never be taken away. Among the rights Locke cited were “life, liberty, and property,” the latter of which was exchanged for “the pursuit of happiness” in the Declaration of Independence.

Note, however, that none of those rights require the labor of others. Even the last one is a right only of pursuit, not attainment. Government is there to protect our rights, not provide them.

McKee explained that the Genesis of the Democrat understanding of “rights” date back to President Franklin D. Roosevelt in his 1944 State of the Union address.

“As our nation has grown in size and stature,” Roosevelt said, our “political rights proved inadequate to assure us equality in the pursuit of happiness.” He proposed a “Second Bill of Rights” that included the right to “a useful and remunerative job,” to “earn enough to provide adequate food and clothing and recreation,” to “a decent home,” to “a good education,” to “adequate protection from the economic fears of old age, sickness, accident, and unemployment,” and yes, to “adequate medical care.”

What a wonderful world it would be if all these things could be ours simply by declaring them to be rights. Unfortunately, somebody must pay for them.

McKee continued by explaining that Roosevelt’s idea of a “Second Bill of Rights” was never introduced in the U.S. Congress, but it was included in the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights that was ratified in 1948.

This international wish list guarantees, among many other things, “the right to rest and leisure,” including “periodic holidays with pay” (Article 24); the right to “food, clothing, housing and medical care” (Article 25); and “the right to free elementary education” (Article 26).

How Do You Remember the Lord?

My Come Follow Me studies for this week took me to Helaman 7-12 in a lesson titled “Remember the Lord.” The lesson was introduced with the following information. 

Nephi’s father, Helaman, had urged his sons to “remember, remember.” He wanted them to remember their ancestors, remember the words of the prophets, and most of all, remember “our Redeemer, who is Christ” (see Helaman 5:5-15).

It’s clear that Nephi did remember because this is the same message he declared years later “with unwearyingness” to the people (Helaman 10:4). “How could you have forgotten your God?” he asked (Helaman 7:20). All of Nephi’s efforts – preaching, praying, performing miracles, and petitioning God for a famine – were attempts to help the people turn to God and remember Him. In many ways, forgetting God is an even bigger problem than not knowing Him. And it’s easy to forget Him when our minds are distracted by “the vain things of this world” and clouded by sin (Helaman 7:21); see also Helaman 12:2). But, as Nephi’s ministry shows, it’s never too late to remember and “turn … unto the Lord your God” (Helaman 7:17).

This scripture block teaches several principles, such as “Prophets reveal the will of God to the people” (Helaman 7-11); “My faith in Jesus Christ must be built on more than signs and miracles” (Helaman 9; 10:1, 12-15); “The Lord gives power to people who seek His will and strive to keep His commandments” (Helaman 10:1-12); “The Lord wants me to remember Him (Helaman 12). However, I feel impressed to discuss this principle: “Pondering the word of God invites revelation” (Helaman 10:2-4).

Have you ever felt downtrodden, anxious, or confused? Nephi, the son of Helaman, felt “cast down” (Helaman 10:3) because he was doing his best to call the people to repentance, but nothing was working as it should. Here are the applicable verses.

2 And it came to pass that Nephi went his way towards his own house, pondering upon the things which the Lord had shown unto him.

3 And it came to pass as he was thus pondering – being much cast down, because of the wickedness of the people of the Nephites, their secret works of darkness, and their murderings, and their plunderings, and all manner of iniquities – and it came to pass as he was thus pondering in his heart, behold, a voice came unto him saying:

4 Blessed art thou, Nephi, for those things which thou has done; for I have beheld how thou hast with unwearyingness declared the word, which I have given unto thee, unto this people. And thou hast not feared them, and hast not sought thine own life, but hast sought my will, and to keep my commandments (Helaman 10:2-4).

When Nephi was “cast down” – downtrodden, anxious, or confused – he “pondered” what the Lord had already shown to him. As he pondered, the voice of the Lord came to him to bear him up. The Lord is the best Person to help us when we are “cast down.”

The word ponder means to think about something deeply and thoroughly; to consider something carefully before reaching a conclusion; to weigh a problem carefully before deciding what to do; to meditate.

President Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints explained, “When we ponder, we invite revelation by the Spirit” (“Serve with the Spirit,” Ensign or Liahona, Nov. 2010, 60).

The question is, “how might you create a habit of pondering?”