Romney finance chair ran "tough love" company
Yikes. The libertarian magazine Reason has a troubling article raising questions about the conduct of some of Mitt Romney's associates when it comes to "tough love" type programs for teens:
Yet another example of creepy, right-wing authoritarianism and a fascination with physical abuse. Forget the Romney's dog, these were human teenagers.
If the article turns out to be more or less accurate, it raises serious questions about what kind of people Romney has around him, and whether he is mentally fit to be president. Like we need another set of moral degenerates bent on torture and other acts of extreme depravity in the White House. Most of the world already despises us, and it's going to take decades to repair the damage.
I wish I knew what it is about conservative culture that seems to make them do these things, but I honestly don't know.
It's sad, and sick.
But the link to teen abuse goes far higher up in the Romney campaign. Romney’s national finance co-chair is a man named Mel Sembler. A long time friend of the Bushes, Sembler was campaign finance chair for the Republican party during the first election of George W. Bush, and a major fundraiser for his father.I 'm honestly not familiar with Reason magazine, so read at your own risk. The article does seem fairly well sourced, for whatever that's worth.
Like Lichfield, Sembler also founded a nationwide network of treatment programs for troubled youth. Known as Straight Inc., from 1976 to 1993, it variously operated nine programs in seven states. At all of Straight’s facilities, state investigators and/or civil lawsuits documented scores of abuses including teens being beaten, deprived of food and sleep for days, restrained by fellow youth for hours, bound, sexually humiliated, abused and spat upon.
According to the L.A. Times, California investigators said that at Straight teens were “subjected to unusual punishment, infliction of pain, humiliation, intimidation, ridicule, coercion, threats, mental abuse… and interference with daily living functions such as eating, sleeping and toileting.”
Through a spokesperson, Lichfield has dismissed the similar charges against WWASPS to The Hill as “ludicrous,” claiming that the teens who sued “have a long history of lying, fabricating and twisting the story around to their own benefit.”
Yet another example of creepy, right-wing authoritarianism and a fascination with physical abuse. Forget the Romney's dog, these were human teenagers.
If the article turns out to be more or less accurate, it raises serious questions about what kind of people Romney has around him, and whether he is mentally fit to be president. Like we need another set of moral degenerates bent on torture and other acts of extreme depravity in the White House. Most of the world already despises us, and it's going to take decades to repair the damage.
I wish I knew what it is about conservative culture that seems to make them do these things, but I honestly don't know.
It's sad, and sick.
