From a modern day legal standpoint, one could call God a typical deadbeat dad.
He gets a young woman pregnant, does not tell her (instead he sends a buddy to break the news), he vanishes into thin air, leaving Joseph to bring up His son. No child support payments, not a single post card - not even on Christmas.
Then, later on the son gets killed, and dad goes all sentimental "oh, my son, he will be forever at my side"!
Before you call this blasphemy or anti-religious, please try to understand that this is a legal view only. There are more than enough examples of similar legal thinking in today's societies, right?
In modern day Germany, deadbeat dads have a surprisingly easy life compared to the United States. Sure, they can and do garnish wages around here if you do not pay up but getting to that point seems to take much longer.
And the Germans are not into making your life as a deadbeat dad utterly miserable beyond this.
Stateside, a nifty system of going after deadbeats has developed. It basically includes extending punishment into any and all areas of your deadbeat life.
Suspending a driver's license as a means to enforce child support is legal in many if not all U.S. states. Seeing how dependent many U.S. residents are on a car, the measure kind of equals an "if you don't pay, you don't eat" approach.
There are mumblings in Germany nowadays to go after the driver's licence of individuals for infringements that have nothing to do with cars and driving. Yes, globalization can be a bitch, my friend.
But, as far as we can tell, the serial deadbeat German dad who inspired the post will wiggle out of another few thousand Euros of child support long before the measure becomes law.
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