Popular Rhetoric Won’t Heal Families Con/Rights Bill This Bill Is Cynical Games-Playing.

Look out, social conservatives - politicians are playing games with you. More laws, more rights, more lawsuits, more regulation and more paperwork are not the answer to your problems - or society’s.

Aiming to curry favor with the good religious voters who had a lot to do with the new Republican majorities in Congress and the statehouses, some politicians are striking a heroic pose as advocates for parental-rights legislation.

It won’t pass. It shouldn’t pass. And it won’t work. This ought to remind conservatives of politicians like Ronald Reagan and George Bush, who attended their prayer meetings and mouthed their slogans about abortion and school prayer but never translated them into law.

In Washington’s Legislature, House Bill 2442 illustrates the point. This bill isn’t going anywhere; even Republican leaders don’t support it. But its spectacular provisions do spotlight the role social conservatism plays in the political arena. The role is mostly symbolic. HB 2442 does contain a few provisions worthy of separate enactment, such as a repeal of excessive limits on the hours teens can work and an increase in parental disciplinary powers. But it also would prohibit teens from receiving psychiatric care, counseling, medical care or education concerning sex, anger, conflict management or suicide unless parents give written permission in advance.

The paperwork requirements this would create are enormous, and the litigation it might inspire is considerable. If the intent is to shelter naive children from information they can get by turning on the TV set, it’s silly. If the intent is to make it difficult for very troubled children to get appropriate care and information, it’s crazy.

Conservatives ought to know they can’t solve our society’s serious social problems with the clumsy tools of government: rights, regulations and lawsuits. By pretending to do so, they undercut the credibility of their movement, which more appropriately seeks to trim current regulatory burdens.

The Association of Washington Business sets a better example. It supports legislation to improve the business climate but favors voluntary action to create family-friendly workplaces.

Parents already have most of the power they need. The real lack is in wisdom, love, time and common sense. But those are beyond the ability of political meddlers to create.

, DataTimes MEMO: For opposing view, see headline: Families matter, bill would prove it

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