Deadbeat Propaganda

While reading another blogger's post about the "Deadbeat Witchhunt", it got me thinking of what a paradox that is. What makes it a paradox is how inconsistent it is. There are times when the enforcement agency takes action in a month, and there are times when they refuse to take action in a decade. WTF! How could that be?

Well there are two reasons I can think of, one I think is an absolute and one is controversial.

The absolute reason is caring, plain old giving a shit. You see, when they, or you, don't give a shit, I mean really enough to get up, stand up, speak up, or do something about something, well that makes all the difference. This whole deadbeat thing is all about the government AND the people, not giving a shit. And that's the important thing, both don't give a shit. If people gave a shit, they could force the government to act appropriately. But they don't give a shit, not yet, not until it affects them personally, but then it will be too late.

Ask yourself, do you care? If someone uses the word "deadbeat", do you correct them, do you even know how the word is misused? If, not, try clicking here. What will it take to make you care? Maybe a personal experience, with a close friend, or even a new spouse? So lets say it gets personal, you know someone who is labeled a deadbeat. What will happen?

• They get assets seized
• They loose any claim to government money, tax refunds etc.
• They loose their passport and travel privileges. When they travel they will be treated like an 9/11 terrorist. Crack mules have more rights.
  
• They loose their driver's and professional licenses -
  
• Which leads to them loosing their job
• Making it impossible to pay, because loosing your job doesn't affect you still owing support
• Then they will be arrested and thrown in jail
• Where their debt will continue to grow
  

And all this to pay for the mistake of getting married in the first place to a cold hearted bitch who takes advantage of the system. Will all this take years? No, more like months. Will there be due process. HELL NO! You will see our judiciary at its worst.

And you will only have your own apathy and inaction to blame. I'm sure you have your own problems and issues. I'm sure you have plenty of excuses. But when it gets personal and close to you, will any of that matter? No, you will wake up and scream about the injustices to you, but who will listen?

With all the injustice in the world, what can you do? First, don't remain silent. When you hear ignorant people or media say something stupid, correct them. That's not hard at all, if you give a shit. Next, be informed, participate in government. But where will you find time to give a shit, to stay informed? Spend a little less time with reality TV and a little more time with the reality of our government going awry due to the neglect of its citizenry.

Freedom isn't free, it requires the active participation of the citizenry in the operation of the government. (jqism)

The government is apathetic too. The enforcement agency's lay blame on each other through their hierarchy - federal, state, and county. The divorce lawyers actually agree that the enforcement agencies are incompetent and when they complain to the judge, he agrees too. But do any of these government entities do anything about it? Do they have the courage to stand up and do something about it as they are obligated to do by their public salary? Hell NO!!!

And the government's apathy, what of it? Is it just apathy or is it more sinister? The divorce industry and its governmental support has an improper compensation model. Their incompetence is rewarded, they have a negative incentive to do the right thing. Rather than get paid for positive results, they are paid regardless of results, so they take the easy way out because they are not held accountable. Its actually even worse, in many cases they are rewarded for incompetence. We all know lawyers are paid more when they screw up then when they do things correctly, efficiently, and quickly. They are paid for their errors too.

When someone is labeled a deadbeat, federal funding to the support agency is increased, regardless of whether it is true or not. So when you try to defend yourself, you are literally taking money out of their budget, maybe even their own pocket. That's a powerful negative incentive to not correct injustice, federally funded to boot.

But why does this agency not pursue the terrible deadbeat cases we've all heard of. Wouldn't pursuing everyone make them even more money? Well the money supply isn't endless. If they got a real live decade deadbeat to pay up, or even start paying for the second decade what would happen? Well these ignored decade deadbeats serve an important propaganda purpose. They serve to inflate passion, among the legislature, budget decisions, and the general public. By pointing to these worst cases, they can keep the deadbeat lie alive. Just like the lawyers, the enforcement agencies are rewarded for their mistakes.

The agencies would rather hound an honest dad and label him a deadbeat than go after someone who is resistant and dishonest. Why? Its easier! And no one is questioning them, no one is holding them accountable. We live in the computer age, and the enforcement agency has hooks into everything, new employment, tax payments, nearly all government information. But they still don't enforce child support. In fact a mother can even give them all the info they need, address, phone number, job, and they still don't follow up. They just don't want to, and they don't have to either. There is no penalty for letting a decade deadbeat go, there is only the PR reward. The government doesn't have enough money to compensate them for the decade deadbeat and the enforcement agency can get the same money going after an honest dad if he's one day late or if their own records are wrong.

The problem is so bad that real deadbeat victims have given up hope. There was the commenter I responded to recently, and I know two people personally who haven't seen any support money. And they all seem to have this, "well that's the way it is" feeling. Why? It isn't that way for everyone, why for you? Speak up or shut up!

So is my blogger friend correct, will we have "Deadbeat Witchhunt" ?

Its all up to you, will you speak up, will you encourage proper compensation models? Don't look at me; our county commissioners, state and county agency directors, and courts have all seen their fill of me. Show them I'm not some crackpot activist. Prove them wrong, that people do care, and that their jobs depends on them doing the right thing. Don't just register to vote, be informed, and make your voice heard. Take back the government that has always been rightly ours in the first place.