St. Joseph’s Preparatory School
Philadelphia PA
Government Regulation on Divorce
Edward Zebrowski
11th Grade
The United States government in the 21st century has regulations over many things such as the environment, guns, airplanes, motor vehicles, and businesses. Government regulation is needed to keep order and to safeguard some of our freedoms, but some government regulations may be unnecessary. The government has regulations over more things than you realize; one of these is divorce. The government regulates the conditions with which you are able to obtain a divorce. This issue of divorce is mainly based on ethics and moral principles rather then on excessive government spending on regulation. Today divorce is regulated by the state government and their regulation is based on a no-fault divorce policy. The no-fault divorce policy made it easier to obtain a divorce but the government should step in with the consent of the people and begin to push divorce policies to decrease the present divorce rates and the effects it has on our society.
A no-fault divorce policy bill was first signed in 1969 in the California legislature and later spread from state to state. The no-fault divorce policy stated that a spouse had to be able to state that the marriage is “irrevocably broken” and go through all of the court issues and documents, and then they are able to obtain a divorce.1 It was introduced to replace the old policy of fault divorces which stated that one of the spouses had to prove that the other was at fault by committing adultery, acting with cruelty, has or had a criminal conviction, had deserted the other, and/or has an addiction.2 The no-fault divorce answered some of the problems of fault divorces such as the difficulty of obtaining a divorce for a marriage that just would not work or other problems such as child and spouse abuse. Even though the no-fault bill solved some of these problems it lead to some of its own problems like the United States having the highest number of divorce couples in the world.3
When discussing the topic of government regulation it is important to establish what government regulation is necessary and what government regulation is unnecessary. Many divorce and marriage laws are important but others are going too far or doing too little. The necessary regulations that US government and state government should have made are the need for a better awareness of divorce and its effects, Louisiana’s covenant marriage license, and interest groups to help keep marriages intact.
Divorce is thing that can have effects on more than the couple obtaining it, it can affect the entire family both the children and other relatives. A greater awareness of its effects on children and a lot of the negative issues that come out of it would stop people from making this decision. Some democrats like Applewick and Lynn Kessler feel that divorce is a very difficult thing and it is better for the parents to break the marriage so the children do not have to hear the continually fight of the parents.4 In some cases they are right but even scientific research has proven that children who have parents that divorce early in their childhood will experience later problems in life like being involved with drugs and alchol.5 So it is important for our United States government to discuss the issues of divorce for not only the family’s sake but also for the future success of the American society.
In the state of Louisiana a bill was passed in 1998 that created a new type of marriage policy in which couples may be able to obtain a tradition marriage license or can obtain a covenant marriage license. You can obtain a covenant marriage license after going through some counseling and agreeing to this license generally makes it more difficult process to obtain a divorce. The bill was brought up by Tony Perkins who wanted to stop the crimes that result from dysfunctional families. Through this license families would be bound together more strongly.6 A covenant marriage license could later lead to even more restrictive licenses that would foster stricter marriages and require couples to sacrifice more from themselves to make sure that their marriages last.7
Interests groups, religious communities and individuals have begun to take action because the government has not taken enough action regarding divorce. The Coalition of Marriage is an interest group providing marital education and encouraging couples to use communication to have a good marriage. The religious communities influence couples to undergo counseling and parish’s and clergy have joined the attempt to help keep marriages intact by establishing certain requirements before couples can get married. Even people like Michele Weiner-Davis wrote solutions in her book Divorce Busting to help troubled marriage.8
Even though divorce regulations are necessary, sometimes the government can go too far and forcing people into particle marriage licenses, the Louisiana two tier marriage, or no-fault divorces. Now that the doors have been opened by Louisiana for states to create different marriage licenses it could lead to states forcing couples to sign agreements that they will later regret or will have no other choice but to sign if they wished to be married. This might occur because people feel that they want a law or an agreement which they sign to say that the two people who are married are married for life and have the law know and respect that. Louisiana’s regulations might also lead to different tiers of marriages such as gay marriage and multi-spouse marriages might occur and the counseling required for couples to marry might interfere with their freedom to get married or more difficult to obtain a license.9
The whole concept of a no-fault divorce is to allow divorces to be obtained easily. All that a person has to do is to find a way that the marriage can not be maintained anymore. This government regulation allows the couple freedom from consideration of all the problems that can result from divorce and permits them to carry this out through court and not having to discuss it between the two parties.
Divorce overall is a difficult issue and the lack of divorce regulation may be due to the many U.S. government officials who have been through divorce and know there is no easy way to solve this problem.10 Divorces will always plague the United States and after the no-fault divorce was introduced in 1970, the divorce rate in 1979 had increased more than 50% making it a pattern that is going to break.11 Others feel that the government is already going too far into personnel life of marriage and that people may be married by churches religiously and not have to go through the government.12 The only way we can solve the divorce problem is through more regulation and through more awareness of the problems fostered by divorce which will gradually lead to drop in divorces and will lead to a better society in the future.
End Notes
1 Pia Nordlinger, The Anti-Divorce Revolution , Weekely Standard, March 2, 1998, pp25-29.
2 David Whitman, The Divorce Dilemma: Most People Want Getting a Divorce To Be Tougher, Except When The Failing Marriage Is Their Own, U.S. News and World Report, September 30, 1996, p58-60
3 Richard Whitmire, Louisiana Creates Two Tiers Of Marriage To Combat Divorce Rate, The Seattle Times, June 18 1997, A1+
4 Whitman, pp58-60
5 Nordlinger, pp25-29
6 Richard Whitmire, A1+
7 Nordlinger, pp25-29
8 Idim, pp25-29
9 David M. Wagner, What Should We Do About Divorce Law? Divorce Reform , World & I, January 1998, pp 288-301.
10 Steven Waldman, The Case Against Divorce, Washington Monthly, Jan-Feb 1996, pg 37-38
11 Nordlinger, pp25-29
12 Wagner, pp 288-301
Questions
1) What is the only way to prevent hijackers from gaining control of an airplane according to the unknown author?
a. The author of the article states the only way to prevent hijackers from gaining control of an airplane and he states it is to make it extremely difficult to get into the cockpit after the pilots are already inside of it.
2) What are the arguments given by lobbyists for the Bells in favor of HR 1542 (Tauzin-Dingell Bill) and arguments given by their opponents against this legislation?
a. The lobbyists for the Bells in favor of HR 154 argue that its members need regulatory relief to compete with cable television companies and other high-speed Internet providers. The contenders of the bill feel that the bill would give a stranglehold on high-speed Internet service and delay the Development of next-generation Web technology.
3) Why do small-business groups like HR 1831? From the small amount of information presented in your required reading, do you think legislation is a good idea? Why?
a. Smaller companies like the bill HR 1831 because it allows small business to dispose of trash into land fills than rather than spending money to dispose of the at a superfund site. So the smaller companies don’t have to worry about spending money on waste and rather to spend it on the success of the company. The legislation is not a bad idea but it could become a problem if the companies try to cheat there ways to fall under the legislation so they don’t have to pay for there waste and companies might dispose there waste illegally.
4) Give an argument in favor of government regulating activities such as rollerblading and bungee-jumping.
a. An argument in favor of government regulation activities such as rollerblading and bungee-jumping would be that these activities can be very dangerous and harmful to a person so the government should regulate that people who rollerblade wear helmets and knee and arm guards to protect themselves and not to get themselves injured and also for bungee jumpers to have certain bungee ropes to be used for bungee jumping to make sure that the rope does not snap and the person is not seriously injured or killed.
5) Define a “burden hour”
a. A burden hour is supposed to measure the time it takes to collect data and fill out federal forms, surveys and reports.
6)Why was Connecticut Senator, Joseph Lieberman, concerned enough to vote against the nomination of Professor John Graham as administrator of the office of Information and Regulatory Affairs in the current Bush administration?
a. He cited Graham’s past criticisms of clean=air and clean water statues and questioned if he would weaken federal health, environmental and safety standards.
6a) Graham is a proponent of “risk analysis.” How is risk analysis defined on page 992 of the May 5, 2001 issue of Congressional Quarterly Weekly?
a. Risk analysis is defined an analysis which calculates the likelihood of a hazard against the costs and benefits of preventing it.
6b) Who was the first president to order federal agencies to weigh potential costs and benefits when writing a rule?
a. The first present to order federal agencies to weigh potential cost benefits when writing a rule was Jimmy Carter.
6) How much would compliance with OSHA’s regulations to limit injuries or disabilities from performing repetitive tasks cost according to an estimate by business groups as reported in the 2000 CQ Almanac? What was the response of OSHA and Labor Department officials?
a. The estimated price ranges from $14 billon to $80 billion dollars and the OSHA and Labor Department officials responded that the rule is intended to be flexible and would not require most companies to act.
7) What was the makeup of the “iron triangle” during the Reagan years and what do environmentalists and consumer activists foresee as its composition in the current Bush administration?
a. The “iron triangle” during the Regan years was an alliance among the Democratic committee chairmen, agency officials and interest groups that worked in concert to achieve common goals. The current Bush administration would supposedly be made of industry officials, the White House and GOP committee chairmen.
8) Name 5 actions of the Bush administration that have drawn criticism from Environmentalists.
a. Bush has taken actions or intention to reverse or revise Clinton regulations, including one to toughen cleanup standards for hardrock mining operations. He also stocked public criticism by reneging on a campaign pledge to regulate carbon dioxide and by rejecting the Kyoto Protocol on global warming. His most controversial move was reversing a rule to reduce the levels of arsenic in drinking water.
9) What did the executive order issued by Ronald Reagan in 1981 and still in effect today, requires agencies to prove before new regulations were enacted? How did the Democratic House counter in 1986?
a. The order required agencies to probe that a regulations’ benefits would “outweigh” its costs. The Democratic House countered by deleting funds for OMB’s regulatory division from the fiscal 1987 budget.
10) On the average, how long does it take to build an airport? A highway?
a. The average time to build an airport is 15 years and for a highway it takes and average of 12 years.
11) Discuss the pros and cons of licensing requirements.
a. The pros about licensing requirements is it restricts people to going against the law and depending on the license may protect the people or environment but the cons of licensing requirements is they take a while to obtain and can be to strict a times.
12) Discuss the pros and cons of master plans and planning departments.
a. The pros of master plans and planning departments are they keep business of government moving forward efficiently and effectively and it provides the rules for how manufactures, builders, and investors to follow. The cons of master plans and planning departments are they can be very strict and ridiculous at times and they also may take a while for the plans and departments to agree to new bills and rules