Is it any wonder that the world is looking elsewhere for leadership? 155 nations approved this treaty which protects the rights of those with disabilities and which was based on our own Americans with Disabilities act of 22 years ago. But our Senate sort of voted it down. 38 members opposed, enough to keep the legislation from the necessary 2/3rd majority.
Why, you may ask?
Other conservatives were deeply suspicious of the United Nations, which would oversee treaty obligations. Those who opposed the treaty included former senator and Republican presidential candidate Rick Santorum, the father of a developmentally disabled child who had traveled to Capitol Hill last week to encourage fellow Republicans to vote no.
He and other conservatives argued that the treaty could relinquish U.S. sovereignty to a U.N. committee charged with overseeing a ban on discrimination and determining how the disabled, including children, should be treated. They particularly worried that the committee could violate the rights of parents who choose to home school their disabled children.
And:
Supporters dismissed those fears as paranoid, noting that the treaty would change nothing in U.S. law without further approval from Congress.
Medicynical Note: We are so wimpishly paranoid that republicans actually believe that “outsiders” can sneakily “force” actions on us without our consent. This from the “leader” of the free world.
Medicynic 