Child support enforcement system victimizes military personnel, innocent citizens
Posted in Liberated Musings by R Lee Wrights on June 30th, 2007 by Jeffery M. Leving and Glenn Sacks
Congressional Republicans have taken enormous criticism from Democrats, feminists, and the mainstream media for making modest reductions in federal subsidies to state child support enforcement efforts. Because these enforcement programs are popular on the left, child support enforcement agencies have long been able to operate with few questions asked. A highly-publicized new California court ruling demonstrates why it’s time to bring restraint and oversight to this area of government.
Taron James of Torrance, California, a decorated Navy veteran, carried out hazardous reconnaissance missions behind Iraqi lines in the aftermath of the first Persian Gulf War. While overseas, James was notified that a woman he knew back home was demanding that he pay child support for her newborn son. Los Angeles County entered a default paternity judgment against James, in part because James’ military commitments made it difficult for him to defend himself.
You cannot win a war by letting your enemy pick the field of battle and the weapons. You will also lose if you spend all your time reacting to the enemy-allowing the enemy to have the initiative and fighting constantly on the defensive is a sure way to lose. Allowing an enemy with superior forces to push you into a war of attrition is a sure way to lose and lose big. But that is precisely what we in the Libertarian Party have done for the past 30-some years.
Rev. Jesse Jackson’s headline-grabbing protest at a suburban Chicago-area gun shop over the weekend produced further proof that Jackson and anti-gunners like him do not understand that even gun owners and retailers have civil rights, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms said today.
In 1986 I watched and grieved with my ex-husband as he lost his father from a stroke (he was aged) and then, just six weeks later his mother from cancer. I sometimes, until this day, wonder if anyone else but me knew she was sick. She certainly never told anyone.
After writing 
If you’ve been listening to the news, you know that the immigration bill may soon be back on the U.S. Senate floor for consideration. Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts has reintroduced his immigration bill (along with Senator Specter of Pennsylvania). The new bill, S. 1639, contains both of the concerns that GOA alerted you to last month:
I love Washington, DC. Oh, I absolutely don’t love what goes on there, but the history and the symbolism are wonderful. I’ve visited Washington a number of times now, the most recent being just a week ago. There are some things I see over and over again (the Charters of Freedom - the collective name given by the National Archives to the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights - for example, and the Space Shuttle Enterprise), but every time I go, I see new things as well. This trip was no exception.
We try to bifurcate the issues of what we do politically and professionally from who we are personally but the nasty fact is that all too often we use the political and professional to justify behavior that would make us cringe if we had to acknowledge it openly. Character is a constant, be it good or bad, and character marks out the blending of family culture, what was learned at the ‘mother’s knee,’ and how we use that to mark out our own personal path through life.
I’ve been following the Ron Paul campaign with great interest and yes, not a little bit of sheer excitement. I cheer every time I see him on TV, and it sure is nice to see the word “libertarian” used with much greater frequency in news outlets like CNN and the Washington Post.
