No, not that Andrew.

Andrew from Dead Men’s Voices, a worthy read. He quotes Orwell:

“Here comes a candle to light you to bed. Here comes a chopper to chop off your head.

– George Orwell, 1984″

And uses it as prelude to discuss some of the new aspects of the education bill supported by Bush and both houses of Congress and both parties.

You see, little Jimmy is no longer full of zest and boundless, boyish energy, now he is AD/HD. Little Suzie is no longer just quiet and shy, now she is clinically depressed. Teenaged Johnny is no longer just being rebellious and belligerent, now he is experiencing bipolar mood swings, aggravated by guilt resulting from the “fanatical” religious practices of his parents. Good stuff, good times. What am I talking about? Why, President Bush’s brilliant initiative funded recently through the spending bill which mandates mental health screening for every child in America.

Good stuff, there. Andrew’s dead right. We’re dreaming if we think that government involvement in our child’s mental health will be a positive thing. It will, naturally, be presented as free of ideology, but we know there’s no such thing. Mental health is already being used as a club to suppress undesirable mindsets (and to justify lost elections). Faith is regularly labeled delusion by our so-called betters in academia. And giving this power to the same people who also have the power to remove my child from my home virtually at their whim, and who will benefit financially and politically from doing so, is a terrifying thought, frankly. The only ideology that could be in charge of this sort of thing that would be actually helpful to our children would be the same ideology that would teach that a child’s mental health is best guarded by parents, and thus never use the power. But people with that ideology aren’t actively seeking the job, and therefore we will get the busybodies, the elites, the activists who believe passionately that the little monsters must be protected from their parents’ ignorance and fanaticism.

Once again, I find myself greatly comforted by reliance on a sovereign God who holds the hearts of men in His hands. Which will, of course, be used as evidence of my own delusion one day, no doubt. “A comforting belief? A faith which gives him hope? He must be schizophrenic!”