Monday, June 29, 2009

The Convention on the Rights of the Child Undermines the U.S. Military

Recently Obama began pushing the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. In light of this fact I have been exploring different things this treaty will do to America if we enter into it. The U.S. Congress has a tendency to pass legislation without fully understanding what they are passing. I want to make sure this does not happen with the UN CRC.

One thing this treaty will do is undermine our own military. It does it in two ways: restricting army recruiters access to highschools, and limiting the amount of money America can spend on national defense. In California the UN CRC is being used to keep military recruiters out of highschools because they are encouraging people under 18 to join the military. While the courts have yet to decide on this issue, it is frightening to see how international law is being used to trump federal law once again. When it comes to military defense, the treaty expects everyone to agree with the notion that protecting children is the most important thing a nation can do. One application is the idea that if you aren't spending enough on your children as a nation you are clearly not protecting them.
National children’s health insurance and other social programs would be created in order to comply with the CRC. The U.S. would have to curtail defense spending in order to keep in proportion with these social expenses. To a western European country whose defense our military has subsidized for decades, this would have no major impact. But the effect would be devastating to both our economy and our security.
If you want to yield national sovereignty to an international body support the UN CRC, if you don't please contact your senator and the whitehouse and ask them to oppose passage of this treaty.

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