Sunday, June 7, 2015

Steve Hitner's Guide to Changing the Law

Steve Hitner, the driving force behind the successful effort to reform alimony in Massachusetts and now is a consultant at the National Parents Organization, has published a how-to guide on changing the law.
  1. You need horror stories.
  2. You need a website.
  3. You need a dedicated leader.
  4. You need a book of evidence showing the problem.
  5. You need an angel in the media.
  6. You need an angel in the legislature.
  7. You need an “evil” person or group as an adversary.
  8. You need credible victims who will share their situation with the media.
  9. You need second spouses (wives) and women who do not want to become second spouses to tell their stories.
  10. You will need money!
I'll admit this is a bit depressing to me. I am the type of person that has always believed that the laws of our country were basically just. The reality, at least when it come to divorce, is that the barriers to achieving justice, what the system is supposed to guarantee us, are simply incredible. I understand that there are bad laws such as those involving family law as well as bad lawyers and judges but I never realized just how corrupt the system was. How else can you explain Spring receiving massive permanent alimony even after taking most the joint assets from the marriage, after a custody evaluator ruled that parenting during the marriage was joint, joint custody after the marriage, an employment evaluation stating she could make just as much money as me and absolute evidence of criminal fraud? Not to mention that the children would have categorically stated that she committed perjury in her testimony and affidavits if only they were asked.

How did this happen? Like any other form of corruption whether it be voter disenfranchisement or bribes at FIFA, it is all about power and money and usually both. I just cannot imagine that these people are so deluded that they do not realize they are acting criminally and in an immoral manner. Maybe the true nature of evil isn't knowing that you are doing wrong, it is deluding yourself that you are not when you are.

2 comments:

  1. Apparently you don't need
    Decency
    Intergrity
    Honesty

    Reformist are nothing more than lobbiest out for themselves. We need to protect the judicial system, women, courts and the decisions that they uphold.

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  2. I totally agree that you need Decency, Integrity and Honesty to achieve justice. It would be wonderful if you did not need the political process to achieve equity and fairness but when the family law system is so dysfunctional you simply do. The results in Massachusetts clearly demonstrate this.

    As to whether reform is self-serving for those who lobby for it, it clearly is. Just like reform was self-serving for Fredrick Douglas, Susan B. Anthony, Gandhi, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela. Good company to stand with I think.

    -- DivorceInjustice.org

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