Letters From North
America by Peary Perry
You’re in
your house with your
family.
It’s late at night.
You just had a baby
three weeks earlier.
Your husband hears some
automobiles pull up and
stop directly in front
of your house.
Cautiously he looks out
the window.
Armed police officers
are getting out of their
vehicles and headed to
your door.
Terrifying thoughts race
through your mind.
Why are they here?
What have we done?
Perhaps there is a
mistake.
Sure, that’s it, a
mistake, we haven’t done
anything wrong, they
must have us confused
with someone else.
But the ranking officer
produces a warrant for
your newborn child.
A warrant?
How can this be?
Our baby is only three
weeks old, what reason
could you have for him?
Your cries are to no
avail and your child is
taken from your arms and
driven away.
Where is this you might
ask?
Germany in the late
30’s?
Iraq while Saddam was in
power?
Russia after World War
II?
Nope, not even close.
How about Omaha,
Nebraska this month?
Omaha…Nebraska?
Yes, dear friends it
seems that a child was
born in Omaha in
September and the
parents did not wish to
have the child subjected
to a blood test for
certain illnesses while
the baby was in the
hospital. They objected
to this test for
religious reasons.
The State of Nebraska
sends them a letter
advising that they
needed to have the child
tested and that the
child was in ‘immediate
danger’. The parents
ignore the letter and do
not wish to have the
child tested.
The state then decides
to issue a warrant, make
the child a ward of the
state, then seize the
child and ask questions
later. The child was
grabbed, tested and
placed in foster care
for ten days until the
test results were
returned. These were
negative and the child
was allowed to be
returned to its parents.
Point to be made:
If this is an example of
how our future medical
system is supposed to
work, stop the world I
want to get off. With
all of the talk being
bantered back and forth
between the potential
presidential candidates
concerning universal
health care, it appears
to me that the state
(our government) is
getting a little too
much involved in our
health situation.
I’m all for good health
coverage, and medical
treatments, but not any
treatments that would be
mandatory or else. In
order for me to travel
to certain parts of the
world I’d have to have a
series of shots or I
can’t go. Fine with me,
I don’t want the shots
so I’m not going. If I
really wanted to go,
then I’d have to take
the shots…but it’s my
option to choose if I
wanted them or not, not
some judge sitting in
some courtroom where I
can’t see him when he
makes a decision that
affects my life.
No, my friends, once
they get to the point
where a judge can decide
what medicine or
treatment I need to take
or else face jail time,
then we are headed in
the wrong direction.
Once common sense is
thrown out the window of
justice then who is to
determine how I should
be treated? Will it get
to the point where the
court gets to make a
decision as to whether
or not I can live or
die? What if some judge
in the future decides
that all old people over
the age of say, eighty
five are a burden upon
society and need to be
put down?
Where is the fairness in
this type of activity?
Do we want a country
where a judge, not a
jury, but a judge has
the right to issue a
warrant and take a child
away without any hearing
to determine if the
circumstances warrant
such action? Seems like
I remember that this
situation existed a long
time ago in England. As
I recall, the sheriff
and King were going
around the countryside
arresting people for one
spurious reason or
another and locking them
up for long periods of
time. There was no jury,
only a judge until the
people got enough of it
and wrote a paper called
the Magna Charta.
I also recall that we
had something like this
in the country called
the Bill of Rights.
Don’t small three week
old children and their
parents have rights any
longer?
Or are we past that
point and headed off
into the great blue
yonder of socialized
medicine for the good of
all at the expense of a
few?
Hitler was ahead of his
time and in the wrong
country.
