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Letter
To Hillary Clinton |
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4/9/2005 |
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Dear
Senator Clinton,
Until recently I have never been an
activist of any kind, other than by
writing checks and having my company
support causes. Now John Murtari is
one of my heroes. He is peacefully demonstrating
weekly in Syracuse, N.Y. for children's
and fathers rights. This issue needs
you attention immediately! I ask that
you meet with him and look closely into
the family courts. This is one on the
biggest issues in the U.S. today with
the divorce rate over 50%.
I have studied this problem for many
months now and here is what I have learned:
The current family court system is doing
damage to an entire generation of children.
Judges hide behind the vague mantra
"Best interests of the children",
but it is really "best interests
of the lawyers". The research is
in, yet the family courts are basing
their decisions today on research that
is decades old (and was never scientifically
valid), and on traditions that should
have gone away with the Equal Rights
Amendment. This does not reflect today's
society and equal rights.
In fact it is already against the law,
as up held by the supreme courts that
fathers should have equal rights. Voters
in Massachusetts were 85% in favor of
equally parenting rights after divorce
in a recent non-binding referendum.
Yet the higher court rulings are ignored
daily by the state courts in virtually
every case. The recent Bridget Marks
case is only the latest in a series
of complete judicial abuse, where a
woman was found be the court to be an
unfit mother, to have committed fraud
and perjury and get still got custody
of the children. Any man would have
gotten a jail sentence for the exact
behavior. As a loving father I want
to, and will, see a PRESUMPTION of shared
parenting become law and more importantly
be enforced. Judges are literally out
of control and the checks and balances
our forefathers designed into the constitution
have been subverted. Money is one powerful
root cause of this.
To me the only question is when Share
Parenting will come to the forefront.
A huge ground swell is building with
hundreds of web sites and fathers groups.
Anything besides shared parenting presumption
creates huge incentives for legal battles,
which hurt children and families and
drain their finances for the benefit
of lawyers and indirectly judges. The
current system has become a distorted
mess over the last thirty years. Effectively
the family courts are still living in
the 1950s.
Imagine if you had to run for election
with the presumption you would lose,
and therefore (because of that presumption)
your opponent got all the money from
your fundraising efforts! Would that
not be outrageous? This is exactly what
is happening in family courts today
, and the lawyers love this because
it generates excessive legal fees, more
conflict and drains the estates of families
at their most vulnerable time. Mothers
are set up to get the majority of the
estate and legal and physical custody
of the children on day one of a divorce
filing. Fathers are very often placed
immediately below the poverty line b
the unfair child support guidelines
that are often ten times the cost of
raising a child. Ultimately they usually
lose anyway, no matter what the situation
and are raked over the coals with tens
of thousands in unnecessary legal fees.
It is insidious and generates miserable
results.
Shared parenting is coming, the grass
roots movement is forming now worldwide.
You can fight it and lose votes, or
join it, because it is in the best interests
of children and families and the RIGHT
thing to do.
You must decide. However, clearly you
are not yet aware of the inevitability
of this due to our FUNDAMENTAL constitutional
rights to raise our children, and enjoy
their company.
Additionally the laws the legislatures
have implemented to protect battered
women are being used to abuse fathers.
Today lawyers admit in private that
between 50% and 90% of restraining orders
issued are used to throw the father
out of the house and denying them access
to their children, often with false
(and sometimes even no) charges. This
is enormously destructive to families
and children. However, again the legal
system loves this because it generates
more huge legal fees. No "due process",
no presumption of innocence, no "equal
rights" guaranteed under the ERA.
Do you know that Virginia, with a population
similar to Massachusetts, has about
1,500 outstanding restraining orders
at any one time and Massachusetts has
about 50,000? Do you think men in Massachusetts
are 33 times more violent? Of course
not, lawyers in Massachusetts, Connecticut
and may states are using this legislation
for unfair advantage in divorce. The
abuse is immoral, rampant and despicable.
Any woman that is willing to just say
the word "fear" to a judge,
true or not, immediately evicts her
husband and controls the children and
home on day one. It is a horrible situation.
There is no question that the family
courts and judges are literally breaking
the constitution every day (Fourteenth
Amendment Title 42, Sec. 1983, 1985
and other amendments). The only question
is when will they be called to task
and held responsible for this behavior.
I, for one, am committed to a multi-year
battle to make this happen and will
be raising millions of dollars for this
cause (as I have for other worthy nonprofit
and children's causes in the past).
Fatherlessness is now encouraged by
the states and current legal system.
It is one of the largest problems in
the U.S. today. It is a silent travesty
that is now coming to light. Please
research this further and you will easily
see that only lawyers and judges benefit
from the current system, not children
and families. Of course they want it
maintained for their personal enrichment.
The government is now effectively regulating
against marriage, because it is so onerous
to get divorced today, with as much
as 40% of your after tax income going
to your ex-wife just for "child
support", 30% going to taxes and
only 30% to live on. On average this
can represent more than six times the
actually cost of raising a child (by
independent statistics). Hence this
is "child extortion" not child
support - which would be 50% of the
actual cost of raising a child - 1/10th
today's level. Any man earning less
than $70,000 per year can not even afford
their own small apartment in Massachusetts
and many other states today. The men
also are forced to pay the taxes on
the ex-wife's free ride income and far
more, as the women get the "head
of household" tax benefits. This
a on-two-three punch for men buried
in the numbers.
You must become more informed on this
issue. I trust further research will
educate you on the damage current laws
are causing to our children and families.
A woman Senator will easily get the
votes of women. What about the millions
of non-custodial fathers? They are coming
to the forefront now.
Please for our children's sake help
this happen more quickly. Best
Regards,
Robert - A Concerned Father whose children
have been kidnapped by the state
Father of 2 beautiful children who want
and need more time with their dad |
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