Democrats Pass No-Fault Child Abandonment Act

Wednesday, June 8th, 2011
Associated Press

Washington D.C.-- Today lawmakers in Washington have passed the National Fathers' Responsibility Act amidst a wave of criticism and bipartisan squabbling. The act passed the Senate with a 53-46-1 vote divided almost entirely along party lines, with only Michael McConnel (D-WY) breaking from his party block. It had earlier cleared the House with a narrow 218-214-3 majority. President Barack Obama is expected to sign the Act into law on Monday.

The National Fathers' Responsibility Act is a measure intended to bring fathers back into the lives of their children. "For decades we've heard how detrimental the absence of a child's father is," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA). "It is criminal that this problem has been left unaddressed for so long." The Act, widely hailed by national Democrats as "the final solution to a pervasive problem", entitles women to demand, and receive, whatever care deemed necessary for her child from the child's natural father.

President Obama had ealier expressed enthusiasm for the Act. "We have suffered far too long from absent fathers, from men who will not take responsibility for the lives they brought into this world. The message of this bill is clear: men, it is time to own up. Either take responsibility for yourself, or we'll ensure that you take responsibility anyway."

Women nationwide have expressed their endorsement of the Act. "This is a big step to ending sexual inequality," stated one woman who asked to remain anonymous. "For a long time woman have suffered because of an unfair legal system that demands that the woman always take the children after a divorce. So there she is, alone, trying to handle four kids and a job because child support payments are so small, and the father's out there somewhere with a new girlfriend, getting ready to start the whole process over again. It's disgusting."

Annette Jergens, from Denver, Colorado, added her own testimony. "I was only sixteen when I got pregnant with our first child, and while I wanted an abortion, he fought and fought, promising that he would always be there to care for us." After deciding to keep her child, Jergens married her high school sweetheart, Alex Reynolds, after which they had three more children in rapid succession. "Times were tough," Jergens explains. "I had to get help many times from my parents because Alex only waited tables." And then one day, Reynolds just walked out. "I was devastated," a tearful Jergens continues. "Eventually the courts gave us a divorce and required that Alex make child support payments, but when he does work, he only makes minimum wage, and the pittance we get from that doesn't even buy used clothes for my children."

Under the National Fathers' Responsibility Act, men like Alex Reynolds will be required to provide for the entirety of the childrens' financial need, regardless of size of paycheck. In addition, he could be required to take his children into his custody whenever Jergens feels she is incapable of providing for them herself.

"If it is no big deal to force a single woman to care for all the children," said Denise Actinson, a prominent social worker for the rights of women, "then no one can complain that it is a big deal to force a single man to care for all the children, either. This Act is just common sense, something we've been without for ages."

National Republicans find the passage of the bill sobering. Calling it the "No-Fault Child Abandonment Act," they predict a rampant spree of women across the nation dumping their children into the hands of unsuspecting fathers and wiping their hands of any further involvement.

"This is exactly the kind of braindead nonsense we'd expect from men-hating, child-loathing, frothing-at-the-mouth radicals--I mean Democrats," said pundit Ann Coulter. "Liberals have this pervasive blind spot when it comes to dealing with problems, namely that they think more of the problem will provide a solution." When asked to clarify her comments, Coulter replied, "This just cuts the mother out of the picture. Looks, the courts are already insanely in favor of the woman in a divorce. She can take everything and leave the man with nothing. Now, when the going gets rough, she take the kids, dump them off with their father, who still has nothing, and drive away in her Mercedes, never looking back."

A few Republicans believe the criticism for the bill is exaggerated, but they still are concerned. "What concerns me is the potential for abusive situations," said Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE). "If a woman decides she just needs to leave the kids with their father for a month or two, and the father doesn't want them, what's to prevent abuse? The Act makes failure to comply a felony, but sending the fathers to prison doesn't do a thing to ensure the children are provided for."

Other Republicans expressed concerns that the Act will further tear families apart. In a society where over half of all marriages end in divorce, a majority of children are raised in so-called fractured families, and a significant percentage are raised by a single mother. "We're going to see a rift where children are no longer treasured members of the family, but instead are a grave threat and a potential divide between husband and wife," said Senator Michael Enzi, (R-WY). "A woman could walk away from the marriage, take the children with her to collect on the child support, and then leave the children with their father indefinitely while still collecting child support. A man would almost have to be an idiot to walk into a situation posing that kind of risk."

The net result? Sen. Enzi predicts fewer marriages, higher abortion rates, fewer children even in stable families, and a growing mistrust between the sexes.

Democrats scoff at the Republicans' concerns, calling them "fearmongering and an attempt to weasel their out of the responsibility they share for creating this situation and doing nothing to fix it." "If a man knows he'll have to take care of the children no matter how hard he tries to escape from it," said Speaker Pelosi, "he'll approach childrearing more carefully, more responsibly, and that can only benefit our children.

The root of all sexual evil

At the very least, sex needs to be an act that is respectful and giving. But consider masturbation. Masturbation is inherently an act that says: I'm seeking sexual pleasure for my own benefit. This immediately turns us in the wrong direction, and if we keep doing it, we acquire the habit of seeking sexual pleasure for our own gratification. This can very easily transfer over to sex, so that sex then becomes an act of taking, rather than giving, and is only respectful as long as one is respecting the other's ability to give pleasure. In other words, masturbation sets the precedent of seeking personal gratification, which can easily become the use of others to reach that gratification. It could very well be that masturbation is the root of all the sexual dysfunction a person can encounter.