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| Republican Senator Glenn Grothman |
In a perfect world, we would all grow up in loving homes with both parents who were madly in love with each other. We would receive a quality education, grow up to be gainfully employed in careers we love, and get married to the one person who completes us. Our children would be happy and well-adjusted. We would have enough money to pay our bills, afford annual vacations, and max-out our retirement funds every year.
We do not live in a perfect world. Far from it. Single-parent households are a fact of life and there are many children who grew up in them who are happy and well adjusted. There are also a lot of children who grew up with both parents at home yet are unable to function as contributing members of society. In his bill, Grothman states that "nonmarital parenthood is a contributing factor to child abuse and neglect." He also promotes the use of "educational and public awareness materials and programming that emphasize the role of fathers in the primary prevention of child abuse and neglect."
Really?!?
Parenting is hard work, stressful, and exhausting. I am lucky enough to be raising my daughter with her father (my husband) and it is still hard, stressful, exhausting work. But I wasn't always a mom in a two-parent household. Two decades ago, I was a single, teen-aged parent trying to figure it all out. I remember slipping into my room for a few minutes of uninterrupted crying because I was overtired and wondering what to do while my son cried in his crib. I can understand how that level of stress and uncertainty could be considered a "contributing factor" of child abuse, BUT not every single parent beats or ignores their kids.
After reading up on Grothman a bit, I was disgusted by the attitudes he promotes throughout his district. It's no wonder he was subject to a recall effort in 2011. Frankly, I'm baffled it failed. Here are some examples of Grothman's ignorance and intolerance, many taken directly from his website:
On Affirmative Action:"...the real goal of affirmative action is revealed: It is to buy votes from groups by ancestry and gender. While the short term loss is bore by taxpayers and the losing bidder or job applicant, the long term loss will be bore by our nation as politicians attempt to set one ethnic group against another."
On 4-year-old Kindergarten Programs:"In the real world it costs much more to educate an 18-year-old than a five-year-old. The critical point for taxpayers to note is that the district makes money on the four and five-year-olds and loses money on the high school students. This encourages districts to adopt 4-K as well as go from half-day to all day 5-K." -
"While studies on social development have not been done, numerous studies do indicate the harmful effects of daycare on children. Given its similarities to daycare, it’s likely that 4-K may have some of the same effects."
On Planned Parenthood Programs providing free birth control to 15-, 16-, and 17-year-old girls:"...having sex with a 15 year old girl is considered sexual assault of a child" "It is scandalous that the Legislature continually passes laws to prevent sexual abuse of our children while at the same time allowing the Department of Health and Family Services to maintain a policy that clearly sends a message to underage girls that sexual activity is to be expected"
On Marriage Rights:"Only a marriage between one man and one woman shall be valid or recognized as a marriage in this state."
On Kwanzaa:"Hallmark sells Kwanzaa cards. The Post Office sells Kwanzaa stamps. The rest of us should treat Kwanzaa with the contempt it deserves before it becomes a permanent part of our culture."
On Stem Cell Research: "Some people enjoy creating babies to experiment on, but I don't."
WOW!!! He must be from the KKK! Racism is on it's way out, thank god!! Maybe he should listen to the people instead of the voices in his head!
ReplyDeleteI was a single parent for 13 years. It is the hardest job anyone can have! Being married doesn't make the job any easier. I hate prejudice!!!