Psychiatric Totalitarianism

By Fred Foldvary

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 HREF='http://www.isil.org/towards-liberty/mental-health.html' target="_blank">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 meme 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 by 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 HREF='http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/04/20020429-2.html' target="_blank">
executive order created the HREF='http://www.mentalhealthcommission.gov/' target="_blank">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.