[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 57 (Monday, April 26, 1999)]
[Senate]
[Page S4160]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  PARENTS ABDICATE; FAITH IS ABANDONED

  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, I had tried numerous times without success 
during the weekend to reach by telephone a remarkable young mother whom 
I had never met. I learned about her while reading a newspaper back 
home in North Carolina that published on April 23 what is most often 
referred to these days as an ``op-ed'' piece headed, ``Parents 
Abdicate; Faith Is Abandoned''.
  (An op-ed piece, of course, is the short-form identification of an 
article published on the page opposite a newspaper's editorial page.)
  The op-ed piece which so impressed me was authored by Mrs. Ashley 
Ethridge of Mebane, N.C., a former school teacher who decided to spend 
her time raising her two little girls. (She and her husband are 
expecting a third child later this year).
  I mentioned at the outset my having tried for much of the weekend to 
reach Mrs. Ethridge by telephone. Sunday afternoon those efforts were 
successful--and I must say, Mr. President, that my conversation with 
Mrs. Ethridge could not have been more meaningful.
  Senators who read her ``op-ed'' piece will agree, I think, that this 
lady is a gifted writer. She is a graduate of N.C. State University and 
she has completed graduate work. She is excitingly profound in her 
analysis of what ails America in our time.
  I must confess that I myself have long been alarmed by America's 
drift away from the moral and spiritual principles and priorities upon 
which our nation was founded more than two centuries ago. Many of my 
generation often lament the trend. But Mrs. Ethridge has diagnosed the 
moral malady better than I, and she offers the prescription to turn the 
nation's direction around more precisely, more specifically than I ever 
have.
  Mr. President, I don't often do this but in the case of my remarks 
today, and Mrs. Ethridge's clarity and counsel, I shall urge my fellow 
Senators to read what this young mother in Mebane, North Carolina, 
feels that all of us ought to consider.
  So I am glad that I tried, one more time, Sunday afternoon to reach 
Mrs. Ethridge. It was a blessing to hear her voice and to sense her 
understanding of the course America simply must take --now.
  So, Mr. President, I say to Ashley Ethridge: God bless you for the 
clarity of your wake-up call to the most fortunate people on earth--we 
citizens of the United States of America. Mr. President, I ask 
unanimous consent that the text of Ashley Ethridge's observations be 
printed in the Record.
  There being no objection, the material was ordered to be printed in 
the Record, as follows:

                  Parents Abdicate; Faith is Abandoned

                          (By Ashley Ethridge)

       Is it just me, or has the entire country gone completely 
     mad?
       In recent editions of the newspaper I have learned that it 
     is good fun when sexually explicit and violent Marilyn Manson 
     shock-rock concerts attract swarms of young adolescent boys--
     presumably sans parents--cheering Satan; that magazines for 
     teenage girls are emblazoned with headlines such as ``How To 
     Totally Turn Him On''; and that parents are paying $800 a 
     month to put infants in institutionalized day care while the 
     mommies and daddies keep tabs on baby's milestones via 
     surveillance camera. People frown upon giving a 3-year-old a 
     doughnut, but don't even flinch at giving birth control pills 
     to a young teen suspected of having sex.
       Nickelodeon (remember, the network just for kids--no adults 
     allowed?) is now changing the entire slant of its programming 
     because its executives have discovered that children now, 
     more than anything else, wish for time with their parents.
       In the wake of the Littleton, Colo., massacre, Wake 
     County's school superintendent, Jim Surratt, asked what kind 
     of sick society would produce people who would want to do 
     that kind of thing. I find the answers to Surratt's question 
     in my newspaper almost every morning.
       In his response to the tragedy, President Clinton said that 
     perhaps now America will wake up to the dimensions of the 
     challenge of juvenile violence. I can only assume that he is 
     implying a need for more programs, courtesy of the government 
     and thus the taxpayers. More counseling, more day care, more 
     before-school care, more after-school care, more gun control 
     and of course more counselors and mediators in the schools.
       I too hope America will wake up--wake up to the fact that 
     children need more parental love and guidance.
       The parents who blame the media and other outside 
     influences for teen violence should be diligent in shielding 
     their children from the offending sources. Where are these 
     parents when their under-17-year-olds are filling the 
     theaters of the many R-rated teen flicks now playing? Where 
     are these parents when their children are wading through the 
     murky waters of the Internet? Where are these parents when 
     their children are buying music bearing Parental Advisory 
     warning labels? Where are these parents when their 
     children are watching questionable--at best--prime time 
     television shows?
       How can parents remove themselves almost completely from 
     their children's lives and then blame ``Dawson's Creek'' when 
     their daughters become pregnant or Leo DiCaprio when their 
     sons become violent?
       Clinton also says that the nation must search for answers. 
     This is absurd, and yet is also precisely the problem. The 
     answer is obvious for anyone who will see it. Unfortunately, 
     we are so ensconced in our spiritually empty, materialistic, 
     self-centered lives that we do not seem to care that we are 
     sacrificing our children. We applaud Clinton's initiative to 
     fund more studies so that experts can search for answers 
     because it lifts the burden from our pathetic shoulders.
       Why is it that so few people seem to believe that parents 
     have a responsibility to raise their own children, to spend 
     time with them, to help them, teach them and nurture them 
     toward a happy, productive adulthood? Parenting has now 
     simply become a process of buying children anything they 
     want, including guardians and homework-helpers, for as long 
     as they want--often well into what should be adulthood.
       Stop searching the psychology journals and parenting 
     magazines and federally funded studies for answers. Search 
     your hearts and make your children, your families, your first 
     priority.
       Clinton says that more must be done to help children deal 
     with anger. This sounds like hiring more school counselors. 
     Why not look to the cause of so much anger among our young 
     people? Could it possibly have something to do with the fact 
     that they know that their parents really don't want to be 
     bothered with the task of raising them?
       Frankly, I don't think the schools are equipped to handle 
     situations such as these, lamentable as they are, nor do I 
     think they ought to. And I think some parents are just 
     looking at school as a place to stick their kids to get them 
     out of their hair.
       Over 400 years ago, Martin Luther warned that if God were 
     removed from education, schools would prove to be the gates 
     of hell. What happens when we remove God from our families 
     and homes, forsaking our children as well? What happens when 
     we remove Him from society as a whole, and worship instead 
     the Almighty Dollar?
       Is it hot in here, or is it just me?

  Mr. HELMS. I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. HOLLINGS. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER (Ms. Collins). Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

                          ____________________