From Welfare State to Police State: The Independent Review: The Independent Institute
By Stephen BaskervilleWelfare reform in the United States has shifted the role of welfare agencies from distributing money to collecting it—not from taxpayers but from divorced fathers. Despite the stereotype of the “deadbeat dad” as a wealthy playboy squiring around his new trophy wife in a bright red Porsche, federal officials have acknowledged that most unpaid child support is uncollectible because it is owed by fathers who are as poor as or poorer than the mothers and children.
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3 responses so far ↓
1 davelola // Feb 8, 2008 at 7:17 pm
Child support is a joke. The only way child support should be inforced is if the said father actually goes to court and says “I do not want to be a full time dad.” I’am a dad who asked for shared custody and the judge would not grant me shared custody. It seems to me that the courts would rather money try and raise our children rather than the father. If somebody doesn’t do something soon and help us fathers be fathers, then most of our children will be behind bars.
2 patchwork99 // Feb 9, 2008 at 6:10 am
I understand now after reading this why with old longstanding huge support debts they don’t go after larger amounts of money. Once these outstanding debts are paid off, and assuming everybody else is current, and assuming that you’re right and that no male with one ounce of sense in his body is ever going to have anymore children (and I believe this may be the best and maybe only solution), there will be no more cash cow for the support industry. So what will be next? You say IRS, but we’re already taxed to the limit. I see down the road a complete government takeover, where you and I will live in slave cabins and go to work every day, receive no pay, and get bisquits and gravy every night for dinner, after which we will wash our one set of clothes by hand and lie down with our state issued pillow and single blanket. We’ll put our one pair of shoes under our cot, and in the morning when we get up we’ll get oatmeal and water. If we are really valuable well-behaved employees and if it is really cold, we might be allowed to don our state issued jackets. Mr. Baskerville has presented us with a large frightening array of facts, and I’m glad he had. Now who is going to give us direction to actually do something about this. Nowhere do I see any plan of action to change what exists. I for one think this article needs to be sent to every boys gym class in the nation (and girls, too, because they can also be victims) I urge parents to make their children aware all day everyday of what’s happening in our country. This welfare thing isn’t all of it. It’s simply an eye opener to the possibilities and what’s out there for the future. I wish Mr. Baskerville would go on now and write articles suggesting improvement. Anyone who knows this much about this stuff must surely know how to fight it. And that’s a sincere plea from a person who really wants a course of action. Thanks
3 patchwork99 // Feb 9, 2008 at 6:31 am
Me again. I know how some of this cycle can be broken. If people who had lots of money and wanted to help get a grip on this part of the government would simply make donations so that people with back debts could get them paid off - it would take care of a large part of it. If churches would poll their paritioners to find people with large child support debts and make it a point to direct all their charitable funds to help these debts get paid off it would be doing a huge service to mankind. Once government realized people are sick of it and will take care of their own to stop injustice someone might be forced to find other more intelligent ways to run our country. Getting the word out and making these pleas might be a start and I urge everyone to at least attempt it. Also, work toward getting something about the horrors of child support incorporated into sex education classes. I challenge every person out there reading this to offer an idea and I further challenge every person reading this to pick an idea and try to do something with it. Rome wasn’t built in a day, but it WAS built and by the common people.
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