[independentmind]

I'm not divorced, not married and don't have any children. I may have a more long-term perpective on divorce than you do, though, because my grandparents were divorced. I have a pretty thorough understanding of what it does to the children involved.

What you don't want to face is the fact that sometimes we have to pay a long-term price for serious mistakes in judgment. Instead of trying to prevent others from making the same mistakes, you are advocating a band-aid, feel good solution that will most likely aggravate the underlying problem--the failure to sustain lifelong, committed marriages. There's just no way around the fact that such marriages are the bedrock of a healthy society.

[null and void]

I'm not divorced, not married and don't have any children.

The best "authorities" on child rearing are always people who don't have any of their own...

[RogerFGay]

You're attempting to justify government corruption by changing the subject. Certainly, divorce causes problems. But that in no way justifies government corruption. It isn't even logical to support government making things worse by stating that in many cases things are pretty bad already.

[CajunConservative]

I am an adult whose only real memories of my father were constant b!thcing and moaning about having to pay minimal child support. My father CHOSE to be more attatched to his money he was having to pay than he was in having a relationship with his children. We did not choose our circumstances they were forced on us.

Well when I needed a father, food, clothes, adequate shelter he was too busy to bother with us. Now the tables have turned on him. He is elderly, disabled in a wheelchair and still bitter about all the lost money he was forced to spend on his children. The only reason he isn't stuck in a nursing home alone somewhere is because I am a christian and have forgiven him all of the pain he has caused me.

You just might want to consider what seeds you are sowing now and what you may reap later.

[Red Jones]

yeah, having nice marriages and families are the bedrock of a healthy society. And when government tells the female population that they can at their desire have the man thrown out of the house and that afterwards she can take a monthly payment from him for 15 or 20 years, then a lot of women, admittedly foul women, take the government up on its offer. Today one third of american women who get married throw the husband out before the children even reach age 10, then they estrange the dad from the kids, then they take money from the husband to support themselves. They turn the man of the family into a slave in essence. You are saying that we should be happy about this state, that putting up with this means building strong families. That is kind of crazy. The current status quo which we are railing against will destroy the family.

Many men no longer see the family option as a good option as a result of this. But the marriage institution will get stronger if marriages can work. With this built-in incentive for destruction that government provides is corroding the institution.

The birth rate is low. Men are fleeing from marriage as you'd expect. Women are not happy about it either. A higher and higher percentage of the men and the women are increasingly viewing the opposite sex as just sex tools. If the marriage option is discouraged, then what do you expect? You can't build up our society and make our people happy by beating men over the head.

A person's rights should be respected even after they get married. If the woman wants out of the marriage, then fine, the government should let her out of the marriage. They should not then also take money from the man to support her, especially for 10-15 years. The wife should not be rewarded with both custodyof kids and husband's money. This practice causes divorces and destroys the family as an institution. Are children or our society at large really better off by doing that? I don't think so.

[stands2reason]

What "mistakes in judgment" are you referring to? Getting married?

[CobaltBlue]

I am married, been married for 22 years, have two children. I agree with you 100%. Staying together for the sake of the children is one of the most important things you can do in your life. A committment is a committment.

Admittedly some people do have hellacious marriages.