Bring on the Pain: Chuck Norris on the Home Visitation Plan

Just when you thought that the debate over health care reform couldn’t possibly devolve any further, Chuck Norris comes karate-chopping onto the scene.

The “martial arts champ, action star, TV hero, and media phenomenon” has just blogged about “Dirty Secret No. 1 in Obamacare” and the honor goes to the home visitation proposal that provides support to new mothers and their babies. It is, he says, “about the government’s coming into homes and usurping parental rights over child care and development.”

Funny, we thought it was about giving children every chance to grow up strong and healthy. Last we checked, helping mothers help their children was a pretty universal family value.

Among his remarks: “Children belong to their parents, not the government. And the parents ought to have the right — and government support — to parent them without the fed’s mandates, education or intervention in our homes.”

Let’s be clear: Nothing about this program would impose mandates on parents or restrict their right to make decisions about how they care for and educate their children. Mothers would be able to choose whether they would like to receive these visits if the program became law.

I probably don’t have to tell you that this is not Chuck Norris trying his hand at satire. A shame, really, given that the Chuck Norris Facts phenomenon has given him some great models to follow.