The top post posits a question that is relevant to government control of what should be exclusively a parents decision for their minor children. Although the subsequent posts have veered off into other, tangentially related areas and some with no relation at all (Sarah Palin's children) the implied warning of how a nanny-state, authoritarian government bureaucracy could one day remove parents rights to make medical decisions for their minor children, especially where sexual issues come into play, is worth considering. Today, some public schools mandate teaching children still in Kindergarten about sexual matters, including homosexuality. It isn't that great a leap to envision a state or federal government someday in the not-so-distant future mandating more invasive sex-related issues, including the kind in the top post.
That millions of Americans take their religion's teaching seriously and object to government intervention in their children's lives to this extent, no matter the rationale, is understandable. That others wave it away is also not a shock. It's all in your POV. This is an example of the kind of social and political divide the U.S. is experiencing. Each side blames the other but Americans that hold what used to be known as traditional values are under a steady assault. Not from just the Obama administration and their misguided attempt to pick a fight with the Catholic church over mandating contraception coverage in employee health benefits, which is directly contrary to Catholic teaching, but from various and sundry advocacy groups that are determined to wipe out what were once considered sensible moral/cultural values and replace them with something far more 'progressive'.
The next decade will only see this battle escalate, whether we have a Democrat or Republican president because it goes far beyond political parties or personalities. When Mitt Romney talks about the 2012 election being for the "soul of America", he is closer to the truth than he probably realizes. The U.S. is either going to continue to drift left toward European socialism and the massive debt that carries as opportunities decrease for the population or begin a return to a more American model of government, without the oppressive hand of a nanny state government standing in the way and making rules and laws that restrict our freedoms, all for our own good, of course, of course. We'll know a lot more on November 7th, 2012.
