Lessons from an old hippie
I
grew up in a very different time than most who claim to be a parent in the
parental rights movement. I was born in the mid-fifties and watched the Civil
Rights movement as it gained national prominence and finally success. I watched
as the free love of the Seventies' attitude of sex, drugs, and rock and roll
dominated the youth of the country.
The hippies preached and taught that we needed to challenge authority at all times and to question “The Man” at what he was telling us. The “Never trust anyone over thirty was a common cry”.
Those old hippies have now grown to
become part and active participants in the system they once spoke against.
They have made an impact in their years by learning to use the system to create
the change that they protected against and screamed that needed to be changed.
Call me one of those.
I remain independent thinking that is not influenced by the acceptance of status quo attitudes of so many. I research and look for changes while not believing that the status quo that is preached by too many is the only way that a problem can be solved. Too many listen and blindly follow along as smoke is blown that a piece of legislation is great and will solve all the problems without taking the time to investigate the truth or legal ramifications of the language of those bills. This comes from not understanding the actual legal terminology that exists. If you have not learned proper terminology then how can you ask for changes to the law that you want?
A short time ago I put together a piece that explains the terminology and what you need to know as you try for a change. Read it and learn why you keep failing to get the changes that you request. If you do not know, how can you help to effect change? http://www.ohiofamilyrights.info/Newsletters/ohio_family_rights_custody_terms_explained.htm
I see too many that follow what I will flat
out call a sheeple attitude of believing that they have been told
that we must accept small changes to reach the final goal. We believe the
banter that we must accept presumptions of shared parenting before we can gain an
equal balance between parents post-dissolution of a relationship. Bah!
Bah!
Ohio has had a presumption of equal custody since 1992 and it has solved none of the problems associated with the removal of fit parents from the lives of their children. It will solve nothing in any other state as well. The reality is that these remain nothing but suggestions that a judge should do something while not correcting the root problem that exists. Passing and supporting such changes and the organizations that promote them will do nothing but continue the problems rather than fix them. Just because they have been around and are supposedly recognized (at least according to their own press) that they are a leader in the industry or the fight does not mean that they are doing it right or telling you the truth about the ramifications of what they want you to bite into.
TV’s Judge Judy wrote a book whose title made this clear about what ACFC and Fathers and Families have been telling you. “Don’t Pee On My Leg and Tell Me It’s Raining”. That is what you are being told and too many fall for today.
They will tell you that you can’t change the system in any way other than small steps. WRONG! It takes as much work to make the small changes as it does to make the complete correct. The fight and counter-arguments will be the same. The doors knocked and the phone calls will be the same to achieve the higher result as it is to achieve the failures that some are trying to get you to accept as great legislation.
We need to look at history to understand that change does not happen overnight but it does happen through diligent work of dedicated people. The Civil Rights Movement that produced complete positive success in the early sixties did not start then; it started in the fifties when major decisions like Brown v Board of Education took that important first step by forcing the schools to provide the opportunity for all to have an equal education. For parents, those small first steps were taken a long time ago yet attitudes that we must accept a continuation of small steps have not completed the mission nor will it.
The first step comes when you ask yourself if the current path to change is working. Frankly, it is not. We need to take that lesson from the old hippies and now question why “authorities” (the supposed leaders like ACFC and Fathers and Families) refuse to go for comprehensive changes instead of small steps that serve no purpose. They remain the hold up in the process as do you if you do not insist that they work to completely solve the problem.
Speak up now and let them know that you
want the problem solved not continued. Should you not do so, you will see a
continuation of bills introduced that step backward instead of forward and by
the time they bring themselves to the standard we hold ourselves to your
grandchildren will be rocking their grandchildren on their knees. It takes one
state for the domino effect to start and we continue that here in Ohio with a bullheaded
determination of being the State that stays the cascading effect of change.
Last sessions SB144, updated and stronger will be reintroduced and it will pass.
Ray R. Lautenschlager
Legislative Director
440-281-5478
president@ohiofamilyrights.com
