There are bad ideas and then very bad ones

Child abuse is horrific, of course - normal people are sickened when the most vulnerable are maimed or killed, especially when it comes at the hands of those responsible for them.

So now there is a suggestion to track "abusive mothers" for life.

And the even more scary proposal for sterilization as a "solution" its ugly head again yesterday.

Meanwhile in California where they have a register of "child abusers" a case has wended its way to the Supreme Court over a registered couple, falsely and maliciously accused of child abuse unable to get themselves removed from said register.

Lets get real here - child abuse cannot be solved by big government, no matter how well intentioned.

It can only be solved at the local level by families and communities made up of families.

Centralized solutions imposed from above rarely work and they usually end up being oppressive or worse.

If twentieth century history has anything to teach us it is that surely.