| MND COMMENTARY |
by Roger F. Gay I read the Sunday article in The Mercury News with interest. There's a "new deal," it says, "for about 15,000 Santa Clara County dads who have lost their driving privileges because they failed to pay child support." If they make one month's payment they can get their licenses back. Let me go one better. Give them their
licenses back. Forgive the arbitrary debt the government created and
set their child support orders to reasonable levels. If the government
of California is extremely lucky they won't sue for reparations. As
for the people who took their licenses to begin with - no deals. They
belong in jail.
California is transferring responsibility for child support collections from district attorneys to the state Department of Child Support Services. Although district attorneys in California might not have been the most vicious and corrupt in the nation, they occasionally got honest press coverage unparalleled in other states. For example, former Los Angeles County District Attorney Gil Garcetti received national attention for obtaining default judgments of paternity after failing to notify "fathers" of court hearings. Once the court established paternity, Garcetti refused to rescind judgments against men who later proved through DNA evidence that they were not the fathers of their alleged children. Last month, the dishonest D.A. was appointed to a five-year term on the Los Angeles City Ethics Commission by City Council President Alex Padilla. If the selection is approved by the City Council, Garcetti will be one of five commissioners who recommend changes in city campaign finance and lobbying laws and who sit in judgment on city officials accused of violating those laws. The Metro News article explains that the child support enforcement staff intends to help estranged fathers become more loving and supportive of their children. Dads struggling to keep low-wage jobs can hold on to more of their pay if they attend parenting classes and agree to commit to their families. The intent of the reform according to Debra Bernard, attorney with the James P. Reape law firm in Valencia is not to be kind to dads. It is to increase collections. "Lack of coordination and integration between these agencies was seen as the major impediment in getting support." It is easier to catch flies with honey. What should be remembered is that we never needed a massive nation-wide child support "system," complete with an overbearing bureaucracy, abuses of power, conspiracies to deny human rights, misuses of government funds, and middle-men skimming child support payments. The "system" was the invention of corrupt politicians, criminals, and political extremists. Not one single argument in favor of the creation of the child support enforcement system was true. The reforms taking place acknowledge a portion of the truth, but only for the purpose of attempting to maintain public credibility. The new agency is changing the public image of child support enforcement from hounding "deadbeat dads" to working with "dead-broke" ones. But that was simply part of the truth all along. The economics of fatherhood hasn't changed, only the rhetoric of child support enforcement. We know that unscrupulous con-men (and women) targeted a large section of the population - non-custodial parents - and ran a lengthy propaganda campaign against them. We know that they lied, and lied, and lied. We know that their motive was profit, and today there are a mass of people stealing from parents, children, and the public coffers in the name of child support. And they want to continue by telling people that they are teaching fathers to love their children. Couldn't you just beat the crap out of them? Well that's not nice, and far be it from me to suggest violence as a response to more than a decade of torture and a grand conspiracy to defeat the Constitution - by the very people we pay to uphold it. But still, I have to say that I don't think returning a few drivers licenses to people who submit to the next round of forced abuses and mass public humiliation goes far enough. Citizens of the United States should never negotiate for basic rights. There are no strings attached. We must never forget that there is no legitimate compromise. The "system" must end and those responsible must be held accountable. Roger F. Gay is a professional analyst and director of Project for the Improvement of Child Support Litigation Technology. |
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