Freedom &
Family Coalition Lobby Day a Success! First Coalition Action
April 27, 2007 -- The Freedom & Family Coalition buttons (see above)
were visible all around the St. Paul Capitol on Thursday, April 26th. The
Freedom &
Family Coalition Lobby Day drew an energetic, sign-waving crowd to
the Capitol Rotunda to briefly rally and then spread out across the
Capitol, each choosing which issues to discuss with their legislators.
The crowd was warmly received by legislative speakers, who included
Senate Minority Leader Dave Senjem, House Minority Leader Marty Seifert,
Assistant Minority Leader Tom Emmer, Senator Warren Limmer, Rep. Sondra
Erickson, and Rep. Dan Severson.
Rep. Seifert told the crowd that the majority in the legislature today
believe they can do whatever they want, and he reminded them that the
public is not with them on these radical policies.
Tom Prichard of the Minnesota Family Council, Twila Brase from the
Citizens' Council on Health Care, Dr. Karen Effrem from EdWatch, Carol
White from Parents Speak Out, Jeff Davis from the newly formed Minnesota
Majority, and Jeff Shell & Lee Michaels representing KKMS Radio all
spoke briefly at the rally. Erick Kaardal of Mohrman & Kaardal, P.A
MC'd the event.
EdWatch's Dr. Effrem called the 2007 legislation a "massive assault
on our freedoms and our families." She described the flawed
Minnesota Early Childhood Indicators of Progress which are the basis of
the preschool assessments: state-defined childhood outcomes that are the
old and rejected Profile of Learning curriculum for preschoolers. They
include teaching 3-year olds gender identity, social activism, and
environmentalism. Effrem also noted the massive expansion of invasive
home visiting programs that evaluate and collect data on parenting skills
based on those controversial state outcomes.
Carol White of the north Minneapolis Parents Speak Out reminded the
crowd, as well as the legislators and staff gathered around the balcony
above the Rotunda that these are not partisan issues. "I am not a
Republican," she stated. "The African American community made
the mistake of thinking that government would help them become
independent. They were wrong. Government is taking our children away from
us." White is a former Minneapolis School Board member and has been
active this session opposing policies that violate the parental rights of
families, arbitrarily remove minority children from their homes, target
their children for psychological screening, put their children on
dangerous prescription drugs.
A briefing and lobby training preceded the rally, at which issues were
discussed and legislators' voting records and talking points were
distributed. [Voting records will be posted on
our website.] EdWatch issues focused on
opposition to universal psychiatric screening and over-drugging, the
Nanny-state take-over of early childhood parenting, and the "womb to
tomb" home visiting programs that undermine parental autonomy and
authority. The EdWatch briefing described the huge new and expensive
early childhood entitlement (called "allowances") in the Senate
bill that monitors and certifies all providers according to the
guidelines of the controversial Early Learning Indicators. She described
a new bureaucracy ("Hubs") in the House bill that puts every
aspect of early childhood and family life under government control and
breeds government dependency.
The Minnesota Family Council included information about the new state
mandate for graphic and offensive Comprehensive Sex Education in its
briefing materials. The Citizens' Council on Health Care included
information about important family and individual data privacy
issues.
One Lobby Day participant described the day by saying, "I now know
where everything is here, how to make appointments, and how to talk to my
legislators. I can come here again on my own with some of my neighbors
and friends. I can do this."
The Freedom & Family Coalition was put together only a few short
weeks ago in response to numerous alarming legislative bills that are
passing through the legislature on an array of issues that represent a
new level of attack on Minnesota citizens and families. All agreed that
the April 26th Lobby Day was just the beginning of a long-term strategic
commitment to oppose this dangerous development in Minnesota.
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