The image of all fathers as "deadbeats" and most men as social liabilities built a rage in men that ruminated for years throughout all America that just exploded on Election Day - 1994. The TIME magazine front page picture of men as pigs under the heading, "Are All Men This Bad!!!" sickened many men inside, and these outraged men suffered quietly and only spoke out on election day in the privacy of the voting booth.
The O.J. Simpson case, starting in June, allowed feminist extremists to denigrate all men again as abusers, and removed all debate over a jury trial and the question of guilt or innocence. We know he is guilty, they said, "Why have a trial?" He's a man, therefore he's guilty! The fact OJ is male was all they needed to know.
Today, the quiet American father has spoken. The critical importance of father/child relationships needs to be nourished, not further undermined. New legislation is needed in 1995 to clarify the rights of unmarried fathers in paternity cases, and welfare reform is needed that includes enforcement of Custodial Interference as well, if it is to respond to the Election Day sentiments of those responsible fathers who did vote.
The current Fathers' Rights movement is a pro-family movement, including women, that cherishes the roles and involvement of both parents in the lives of children. What new Congressional conservatives can do that would help the most, is to eliminate the roadblocks to positive father parenting in cases of separated parents.
We share the conservative view of the importance of the family in our society and the desire of the new Congress to reduce causes of marriage breakup and the proliferation of teenage pregnancy. However, until women are also included in paying back some of the financial costs of welfare programs and also until no-fault divorce is repealed for marriages with children, separation and divorce is a reality for our society.
The new Congress cannot continue to just blame husbands and fathers and punish them financially as if it is all their fault, when statistically it is mothers who file first for divorce in nearly 80 percent of the cases. It is imperative that the image of separated fathers only as sperm banks and checkbooks be set aside, and a new vision of separated fathers as involved parents be put in place. Census studies show that when separated fathers are allowed a relationship with their children, child support is almost a non-issue.
The challenge for Newt Gingrich and Bob Dole is to put this reality into public policy and not be stampeded into new punitive legislation that will have counter- productive results. If these new leaders can perform as leaders, they will have advanced family values further than any family policy legislation enacted in the last 30 years.
While Election Day men were in fact angry and frustrated on the outside, the reality on the inside is that these men are quietly hoping and praying for a better day for our society, our country, and our children. The challenge is whether political leaders can be quiet long enough for the male message of 1994 to be received.
The American Fathers Coalition, in cooperation with the National Congress for Men & Children, will sponsor a Congressional Symposium in early March 1995 to provide new Congressional leaders with specific measures to be included in new legislation from the perspective of concerned and responsible fathers.
Next month, Welfare reform -- No room for Daddy?
Send Editorial Comments to The Backlash!
Please report all problems to The Web Master