House OKs incentives for premarital education
AUSTIN ‚Äö√Ñ√Æ Couples who complete premarital education courses would have their marriage license fee waived under a proposal the Texas House tentatively approved today and that supporters say would strengthen marriages. Classes would be taught by certified instructors who are marriage counselors, clergy, mental health professionals or others specified in the bill by Rep. Warren Chisum, a Pampa Republican…. “This is not just counseling. This is education,” Chisum said. He said he wants couples to “know what they’re getting into and what’s expected of them.”
Isn’t it interesting how Conservative Republicans bloviate about Big Government and decry the rise of the “nanny state”…until part of their pet agenda comes into question. THEN it’s all about doing the right thing. No surprise that hypocrisy is a platform deeply engrained in the Republican platform, eh?
Yeah, former DUMB@$$ AWARD wiener and Christian zealot Warren Chisum now wants to get the state of Texas into the marriage counseling business. Don’t get me wrong; I’m all for saving marriages. Marriage is certainly in the interest of the State (translation: all of us), and marriage contributes to solid family situations. I’m certainly not about to dispute that. No, my issue is with using scarce taxpayer money to essentially put the state of Texas into business funding marriage counseling and education…and with Conservative Evangelical Republicans giving their onerous social agenda the force of law.
One opponent of the premarital course, Democratic Rep. Garnet Coleman of Houston, urged a vote against the bill because he said government should stay out of relationships.
“In the world we live in we ought to have choices,” Coleman said. He said he and his wife, who is Catholic, took part in premarital instruction.
“It was cool, but it was my choice. And it was her choice,” he said.
Exactly. It’s about adults making choices…and government has no business in that process. Frankly, the Texas Legislature has enough on it’s plate without becoming involved in the marriage counseling business.
Rep. Senfronia Thompson, D-Houston, fired this question at Chisum: “Why is it we have members of this House who have been divorced five or six times?”
“Because they didn’t have this course available to them,” Chisum replied, unfazed.
This is exactly why Chisum makes such a convincing and deserving DUMB@$$…because he’s all about small government- until it’s a pet project of the Religious Right. Chisum is committed to the idea of small government about as much as I am to the idea that the war in Iraq is actually about fighting terrorism. It’s about ensuring that the Religious Right has the ability and the power to force their agenda upon this country by giving it the force of law. “Small government”, my ass….
Those who can’t afford the education course would have access to scholarships provided under other legislation, Chisum said. He added that some courses offered by faith-based organizations would be free.
Of course; you just had to know that their would be a religious indoctrination aspect to this madness, eh?? And don’t even get me started on “covenant marriage”….
