[RogerFGay]

It was an amendment to the social security act that established the US Office of Child Support Enforcement. The welfare establishment was not for it. It showed up as an amendment to more popular social services legislation, introduced by Senator Russell Long, the son of the notorious Louisianna politician and organized crime figure Huey "Kingfish" Long. When signing the bill, President Ford said that it took the federal government too far into domestic relations and promised to submit corrective legislation later. He left office and not much happened during the Carter years. When Ronald Reagan, who as governor led the national transformation to no-fault divorce and one of the few people who spoke in favor of the 1975 legislation, took office, pretty much all hell broke loose. Major legislation was passed in 1984 and 1988 building the agency into a bureacratic goliath with a multi-billion dollar annual budget and power more intrusive than the IRS and more destructive than al Qaeda.

I've written a lot about the subject. How much do you want to read?

[Looking for Diogenes]

I've written a lot about the subject. How much do you want to read?

So I discovered. While searching I came across your website.

Surprising to hear about a bureaucracy that Reagan encouraged. I guess he had personal experience, being the only divorced president. However, there will always be problems as long as there is divorce, especially when children are involved. If churches held the quasi-governmental role that they had 200 years ago they could manage the problem (come to think of it, they did- no divorce allowed). In today's society it seems inevitable the government will get involved. The issue is how to minimize that involvement and make it serve the people.

Do you have any broad suggestions?

[Z in Oregon]

It was an amendment to the social security act that established the US Office of Child Support Enforcement.

What year?