Posted on 05/26/2002 2:17:07 PM PDT by RogerFGay
I'm not saying to turn it over to collection agencies across the board, that's excessive. When it comes to the dads that actually pay their child support I think we should go back to the old way. Let dad send the check to mom and there's no reason to involve any third parties. That part wasn't broke.
What I'm saying is just for those cases where dad refuses to pay, that's it. The initial problem 20+ years ago (the problem that people tried to fix with a psychotic federal agency, which is never a good idea) was that mom had no ability to get money out of a dad that refused to pay. And that's really bad. In the 70s if a guy stopped paying his electric bill and his child support the electric company could hound him to the ends of the earth with collection agencies and civil suits and all kinds of other stuff (in 1990 I had a bad stretch and didn't pay my electric bill, they made my mother provide proof that I didn't live with her or they were gonna cut her off, I didn't even live in the state when that happened so it wasn't too hard... and I paid as soon as I had the money) and the mother of his children had to learn to live without that money. No matter how you slice it that's not an acceptable system.
So all I'm putting forth is a system almost identical to the one that existed before (ie, no federal agency, no federal control) except for one point: we treat the debt between former spouses JUST LIKE debt between citizens and corporations. All the burden of enforcement is on the ex-wife (just like it is with the electric company) but she actually has the ability to do something (much like the electric company). Nothing "like a collection agency" in this, the wife would hire an actual collection agency (we'll need some tweaking in the law to figure out how collection agencies handle continually incurring debt but that shouldn't be tough).
See I think you guys would like that system. Other than the changes to the current debt law there is no government involvement over and above the level government currently gets involved in bad debt situations (which is at the invitation of the creditor and the government has some serious limits on what they can do), no third party involvement when the father is paying (or can work out the situation with his ex).
I think it gives everybody what they want. You guys get to lose a federal agency you hate, I get the enforcement of payment that shows we're not a totally screwed up society.
Under joint custody there is considerably less and often none at all child support payments. Of course, it does require money to support the child in your direct custody but that is to be expected.
Again, why don't activists concerned with paying less in CS enthusiastically support JPC?
Common sense so obvious that it escaped me. "Child support" has spawned a tangible government infrastructure of waste and abuse that literally begs for dismantling. There is no corollary infrastructure to attack w/r/t the custody issue... it's almost entirely an ideological system held together by feminists and their sympathizers in the judicial system - smoke and mirrors if you will. The most frustrating thing about speaking out against the child-support status quo is that it will be neo-conservatives who first come to the chivalrous rescue of the poor wyminnz and their starving orfinks. With that kind of sympathy, the liberals can rest assured that nobody will mess with the best laid booby trap in their war against the traditional family.
And your point is? You made a claim that shopping addiction breaks up more marriages than infidelity .... which you didn't support with any facts. Plus you ommitted the many other types of addiction which can and DO break up marriages.
Now your tossing in arcane statements about how individuals deal with addition. Some spouses stay and try to work it out with the addicted spouse, and some don't.
The fact is divorce has many causes. In your (unsupported)assertion about shopping addiction breaking up more marriages than infidelity you seemed to condone a husband dumping the marriage. Do you condone the wife doing the same if the husband has an addiction?
What about in cases is infidelity, is this valid grounds for divorce?
I'm just curious why father's rights activists in the US aren't actively lobbying for JPC. Still haven't gotten a good answer from you or anyone else.
Since you're living in Sweden and claim JPC works so well there and you're a writer concentrating on family issues, why wouldn't you write about JPC and get the word out to more people?
Also, I understand Sweden has a very different (some say socialist) system of child care, health care and more women work outside the home, and there is a higher standard of living overall, compared to the USA. Care to speculate how these things play into the prevalence of JPC there?
Arcane my @ss. That comment was in direct response to your assertion that "couples" have to deal with addiction problems or face divorce. But then anybody who bothers to reply to you can usually expect a faceful of snide for their trouble.
When I asked you to provide some backup to your statement you decided to divert attention by making a pat statment that only individuals can resolve their own addiction. Well fine, ultimately yes they do. But they often do so with the help and support of a spouse or family member. Either way, it was a secondary issue, which was the point of your diversionary tactic.
Once again, what evidence do you have that shopping addiction, running up credit cards, etc., breaks up more marriages than infidelity? PS I don't mind if you're right, you might well be. I'd just like to see some data on this. If true it would be an interesting fact.
Yeah... that's the mindset I'm talking about. A guy gets cancer or is injured on the job and - according to mental freaking giants like you - he's no longer a man. Lock him up, he's no good to anyone anyway, right?
Why don't "father's rights" activist actively support and lobby for joint physical custody both in divorce and never married situations? This will be the umpteenth time that you have attempted to insert into this thread the false notion that fathers' rights groups do not lobby in favor of joint custody. Last time I sent you a link to a prominent father's rights group that is doing exactly that. This time I will quote from the Dallas Observer: The National Organization for Women (NOW) issued an "Action Alert on Fathers' Rights" to its state and local chapters in 1996. "These fathers' groups are fulfilling their objectives forming political alliances with conservative Republicans by working for the adoption of legislation such as the presumption of joint custody," NOW warned. "The success of these groups will be harmful to all women but especially harmful to battered women and children." The next time you say it, I will call you a deliberate, repetitive liar. Fair enough? |
I've looked through the thread and can't find this link. Can you post it again or tell me which post# you put it in? Thanks.
http://www.acfc.org/missn.htm
Here is what I found on the subject at that website:
"We believe equal, shared parenting time or joint custody is the optimal custody situation."
Legal status of JPC in the USA by State. It seems that JPC is already either "authorized" (don't know what that means) or is the presumptive in the majority states.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.