Hillary Bribes Iowa Voters with Free Babysitting

Hillary Clinton is offering free babysitters and daycare centers to get her supporters to the Iowa caucus, according to the New York Daily News as linked by Drudge. "The Clinton campaign is opening day care centers across the state, including three in Des Moines, and has enlisted a legion of teenage girls to render their tyke-watching services."

This takes Get Out the Vote drives to a a whole new level. And it's brought to us by the candidate (and party) who think that we should look to government -- or a campaign to run the government -- to perform even the most mundane chores of daily life.

We already knew that Hillary believes that "It Takes a Village" to raise a child. She literally wrote the book on the Nanny State. Hillary gave a speech to promote her book and her philosophy of collectivist child-rearing in 1997 that included this:

We all know that raising kids is a full-time job and since most parents work, they are, we are stretched thin. Just think about what many parents are responsible for on any given day. Packing lunches, dropping the kids off at school, going to work, checking to make sure that the kids get home from school safely, shopping for groceries, making dinner, doing the laundry, helping with homework, paying the bills, and I didn't even mention taking the dog to the vet.

That's why my husband wants to pass a flex-time law that will give parents the option - to take overtime pay either in extra income or in extra time off depending upon whichever is best for your family.

That's right, let's impose federal regulations on small business owners to enable parents to get the dog to the vet and pack the lunches. But by providing the actual babysitters and daycare centers, Hillary has taken her philosophy to its illogical extreme: she'll provide someone to pack the lunch and help with the homework.

It's no surprise that Hillary will do anything to win. This strategy, however, reflects a recklessness that one would not expect from a lawyer. The liability issues boggle the mind. Many schools and churches do not even let parents volunteer before undergoing a criminal background check first. Will Hillary fingerprint her volunteer sitters, or make sure they know CPR? Don't expect her to check whether they are registered sex offenders. After all, this is the party who wants to give voting rights to felons.

But if Bill has any say in selecting the sitters, they will at least be nubile. Who knows, maybe Bill will be one of the babysitters, just to keep campaign expenses low, of course.

Moreover, any parent who would accept Hillary's childcare is gambling their child's safety. There won't be any time to check the sitter's references. Why would anyone leave their child with a stranger -- just to go to a caucus?

I've always taken my children with me when I go to vote; the experience teaches civic responsibility and the mechanics of democracy. So I could not understand why any Iowan with small children would not simply bring them along to the caucus.

Then it hit me. The content matter at a Democratic caucus might not be appropriate for small children. They'd learn that one of their candidates used cocaine. They'd learn that another candidate might have an illegitimate child. And they'd hear plenty of discussion about the value of "choice" -- not school choice, but rather abortion. That would make for an interesting mother-child conversation on the ride home from the caucus.