Passports more important than dodging child-support

I'm glad that the new passport rules have helped to net at least $22.5 million over the past 8 months, but why are we so bad at enforcing child support rulings? I'm glad the government (whoa, there's a phrase I haven't used in a while...well, without being sarcastic) employs numerous different tactics to collect child support, but why is withholding a passport more effective than withholding actual dollars from a paycheck? I'll admit, I'm no expert, but my understanding of most child support laws is that courts and/or law enforcement have at least some access to the owing parent's financial records. So if that parent was able to come up with the money when his or her passport was withheld, doesn't it seem logical that he or she was therefore capable of paying the child support? And wouldn't that show up in the financial records? So couldn't law enforcement, you know, enforce the law (in a hopefully more speedy manner than just sitting around hoping someone wants to vacation in Europe sometime before the poor kid has to start paying college tuition)?

Child support is also my main argument against laws like this (thanks to Sid, who sends me such things because he likes to watch the steam come out of my ears). You see, these clever folks in Ohio think it's a grand idea to prevent a woman from having an abortion without the written consent of the father. Now, setting aside all the gross, offensive implications of this bill in terms of power and sovereignty over one's own body and abusive relationships and rape, let's think about what I hope, in my little fantasy world, was the actual, non-malicious, inspiration for such a law. A good guy, a stand up guy, who would do the 'right thing,' whatever that may be, is denied knowledge of his potential offspring, and that's unfair. Well, ok. But knowledge and responsibility are a two-way street, and you (and I mean the collective you) don't get to have a say in a process until we (collectively) figure out a way to make it impossible for men to walk away from the women they impregnate. As long as women like Jeannette Dean are dipping into retirement funds to cover basic necessities, because the state is unable to collect child support on her behalf, I'm not going to be losing any sleep over poor, mistreated men who don't get a say in what their significant other does to her body. You don't get to have it both ways. Either every man is held fully responsible for every child he produces, or you have no moral high ground from which to demand a more involved relationship with the ones that you happen to want.