Deadbeat Dads and Deadbeat Citizens

The welfare of the people in particular has always been the alibi of tyrants.
~Albert Camus

Judges can and often send fathers to prison because they have not paid what the Judge decided was "Child Support". Excuses for failing to make child support payments are not sympathized with by the judges.

The Judges will often tell the father to get a new job, work harder, etc.
"In most states, the judge is authorized to examine a parent's ability to earn as well as what he or she is actually earning, and order higher child support if there is a discrepancy. Actual earnings are an important factor in determining a person's ability to earn, but are not conclusive where there is evidence that a person could earn more if she chose to do so. For example, assume a parent with an obligation to pay child support leaves his current job and enrolls in medical or law school, takes a job with lower pay but good potential for higher pay in the future, or takes a lower paying job that provides better job satisfaction. In each of these situations, a court may base the child support award on the income from the original job (ability to earn) rather than on the new income level (ability to pay). The basis for this decision would be that the children's current needs take priority over the parent's career plans and desires." http://fatherhood.about.com/cs/divorceddads/a/childsupport_2.htm

I think it's time to apply this principal to the Deadbeat Citizens. Those citizens who do not work and accept their responsibility to carry their burden in society should be charged with "Government Support". It is up to the judges to make these deadbeat citizens live up to their duty to help pay for; police, fire, parks, schools, and free emergency room service. The judges should make the "Dead Beat Citizens" who can take care of themselves, do so. As the previous paragraph shows, parents who choose a lesser paying job may be required to pay child support based on previous earnings. I see nothing wrong with applying this principal to "Deadbeat Citizens".

Neither does Michelle Obama, who said in a speech at UCLA in February 2008, her husband, Barack Obama, if elected President, would; And Barack Obama will require you to work. "He is going to demand that you shed your cynicism ... that you come out of your isolation, that you move out of your comfort zones. That you push yourselves to be better. And that you engage. Barack will never allow you to go back to your lives as usual, uninvolved, uninformed." http://jewishworldreview.com/kathleen/parker052108.php3

My solution however would leave the state out of the child support business. Mothers then would find reliable men, not just a sperm donor. Mothers would compromise and negotiate to make the marriage and parenthood work. Today there is no economic or social reason for a mother to make the marriage work, or to share a child with its father.

Nor would I compel people to work, as Michelle Obama says. Of course I would not offer them services that someone else is compelled to pay for.

Charles Tolleson, divorced dad

Links--
Single Parents/ http://singleparents.about.com/od/legalissues/p/deadbeat.htmDead Beat Dads info http://www.ancpr.org/deadbeat.htmlDead Beat Dads Stats http://www.deltabravo.net/custody/supportfacts.php
http://www.falseallegations.com/bench5-beat-dead-dads.htm