Psychiatric Totalitarianism

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[sSRI-Research] Psychiatric Totalitarianism

 

Preventive Psychiatry E-Newsletter # 162

 

" Psychiatric Totalitarianism "

 

By Fred Foldvary - December 13, 2004

 

An effective way for government to control its subjects is to be able

to declare anyone insane on the say-so of a government doctor, and

then have the power to kill, imprison, or drug the subject. That was a

common practice in the old Soviet Union, and it is already being done

on a small scale in the USA. But now legislation passed by Congress is

leading the way to implement this on a grand scale, enabling the US

government to have psychiatric totalitarian control over all residents.

 

This is what eventually comes from the belief that constitutions do

not matter. Many conservatives, liberals, progressives, socialists,

radicals, reactionaries, and populists don't believe in having a

constitution, because it gets in the way of the policies they favor.

Now the US Constitution is disrespected by everyone except a few

libertarians and geoists, so anything goes, including psychiatric tyranny.

 

According to a commentary by Jarret Wollstein on " Universal Forced

Mental Health Tests, " legislation is already pending in Congress to

eventually require every person in the USA to submit to psychological

screens for mental health. Those who test as psychologically deficient

will be forced to take corrective drugs.

 

Perhaps if you believe that human beings are individually sovereign or

that land is the birthright of humanity, you will be considered

psychologically challenged, and will be given drug therapy. Eccentrics

and unconventional thinkers beware! We will still be 'free' to speak

and travel, but only so long as we do not do or say anything that the

government considers unhealthy. After all, terrorists must be mentally

unhealthy, so why not screen everyone for mental health?

 

On Nov. 23, 2004, Dave Eberhart reported in NewsMax.com that Congress

has already approved some of the funds that the administration sought

to implement universal mental health screening for 60 million American

children, pregnant women, and others, through schools and pre-schools.

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons (AAPS) has decried

this legislation, which they say will lead to mandatory psychological

testing of every child in America, without parental consent.

 

What is the Constitutional authority for such sweeping intrusion into

schools and families? There is none, but the U.S. government provides

grants to schools to be used for such testing, and by dangling money

before their eyes, the federal government gets state and local

officials to do what the federal chiefs want.

 

President Bush in 2002 by executive order created the New Freedom

Commission on Mental Health.. The excuse was to eliminate inequalities

for Americans with mental disabilities. What is the US Constitutional

authority for such a commission? None. Why should the federal

government be concerned about the alleged mental health of 'free'

citizens? No reason, other than to pave the way towards totalitarian

control.

 

A side effect of some anti-depressant drugs is a seeking to commit

suicide. With mandatory psychological screening, unconventional

parents may have their children taken away from then on the charge

that they provide a mentally unhealthy environment. The children may

end up dragged to foster homes, drugged to mental incapacity, cut off

from their family and heritage, or dead from suicide or drugs.

 

The psychiatric coercion of children is already a reality in the US.

Some 4 million children are being forced to ingest the drug Ritalin.

Parents who object are threatened with prison. Representative Ron Paul

of Texas warns that the " mental health " program will be expanded to

forcibly include every resident. One of the very few in Congress that

believes in Constitutional government, Ron Paul, a doctor, has written

on The Therapeutic Nanny State. Paul introduced an amendment to stop

the funding for the mental health program, but it got voted down.

 

Ron Paul in Truth News says that the allegation that " we have a nation

of children with undiagnosed mental disorders crying out for

treatment " is 'patently false. Paul points out that children's brains

continue developing, and drugs could have very harmful long-term effects.

 

How did Americans come to the point where the federal government can

impose a " mental health " standard and take control of the country's

children when it is violated? It is for the same reason that the

president may go to war whenever he wants to. We no longer have an

effective constitution. We no longer have effective liberty. We no

longer have effective democracy. Oh, yes, you can walk down the street

to your local cafe, but watch what you say, how you dress, what you

eat, and what you say to your kids.

 

This article first appeared in the Progress Report, www.progress.org.

 

 

Dr. Fred Foldvary teaches economics at Santa Clara University and is

the author of several books: The Soul of Liberty, Public Goods and

Private Communities, and the Dictionary of Free-Market Economics.

 

 

 

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