There Oughtta be a...

Most people who know me well, know that I am not a fan of government.

Most laws of public policy -- no matter how well intended -- ultimately create more problems than they solve. All one needs to do is to look at how Prohibition, the "War on Drugs", "Three Strikes," No Child Left Behind, the creation of the Federal Reserve, and others, create criminals, crime, and social problems where none existed previously, filling prisons to overflowing with mostly non-violent offenders. Very few laws on the books today actually protect people. Most laws have one (or both) of two purposes: to increase government power and control over ordinary citizens and reinforce their dependence on it, and to enrich and empower those who benefit most from governmental power: namely, the Corporations.  Whose interests do most lobby groups represent but those of the big corporations? Who heads the government agencies supposedly created to protect the public, such as the FDA, Tobacco, Firearms and Alcohol, USDA, and others? Former executives of the corporations they purport to regulate. Who suffers when the FDA won't approve a foreign-made medication because the US pharmaceutical lobby blocks it?

 It doesn't take much imagination to guess whose backs are getting scratched, and it sure isn't ours.

Talk to any currently practicing physician about the long-term ramifications of "Obamacare," and you will learn that it will create a health-care nightmare far worse than the one -- and I do acknowledge it is a nightmare -- that it is intended to fix. Especially for those of us with children on the Autistic Spectrum, who often have to resort to going outside the parameters of what is currently considered "conventional" medicine to find effective treatment for our children. I've gotten more than an earful -- from more than one MD -- on how our kids will get lost in a medical system that won't treat them until they develop lupus, MS, leukemia, diabetes, and other serious autoimmune conditions because doctors will no longer have the freedom to practice medicine as they deem appropriate -- thus making those who think "outside the box," those who partner with parents and patients in their decision-making process, and who ask the deeper questions that challenge "conventional" practices...criminals. As a parent whose child was essentially ignored by "conventional" medicine but helped by "mavericks," that prospect fills me with unabashed terror.

But I digress!  I'm not here to post an anti-Obamacare diatribe. I'm actually going to celebrate one of government's own members, Rep. Bill Posey, who recently spoke with passion and clarity about what we are faced with as the rate of autism diagnoses continues to skyrocket unchecked:

 I must concur with the experts who have been willing to speak out, that the epidemic increase in the rates of autism are not a 'genetic' epidemic. Indeed, you don't have genetic epidemics. While there is likely a genetic component to many who have been diagnosed with Autism, we must seriously consider that there are likely several key factors in autism. 

Also, to some who have suggested that the increase in Autism is due to better diagnosis, you don't go from 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 80 in three decades due to better diagnosis alone. And, if that were the case, where are the tens of thousands of autistic adults in their 40s, 50s and 60s? While better diagnosis may be a factor, common sense says there is a real increase and something is causing it.

And this:

I was pleased to participate in a November 2012 House Oversight and Government Reform hearing on the Federal Response to Autism. That was one of the most attended hearings I have participated in since coming to Washington in 2009. Indeed at this hearing it was standing room only, and overflow rooms had to be used to accommodate the public. This was a much anticipated hearing from many parents of children suffering from Autism who want clear and unbiased answers to questions surrounding the epidemic. 

I, like many in Congress, were frustrated with the lackluster response from the federal witnesses, particularly the CDC witness that was evasive and took more than five months to respond to the Committee's questions. The responses that finally arrived this month were incomplete, often evasive, and showed a complete lack of urgency on the part of the CDC. I was also disappointed that the federal government witnesses did not have the courtesy to remain at the hearing to listen to the testimony of the public panel representing non-profit organizations and academic institutions focused on Autism and Asperger's Syndrome.

I know my fellow voluntaryists may look at me askance as I say this, but since it is highly unlikely that these draconian entities will be abolished in our lifetime, and if we have to live under a system that creates crimes and criminals, let the laws at least make criminals out of those who actually perpetuate harm.

UPDATE! 9/15/13:

The next round of hearings has been scheduled for November, 2013.