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Government and Divorce - Page 2© Frank Monaldo
Page 2
Nov 11, 1997
It is possible for governments to help at the margins by enacting family-friendly legislation. Perhaps an increase in the standard deduction for children, particularly preschool children, is warranted. However, if the lack of money were the fundamental cause of high divorce rates, divorce would have exploded during the Great Depression. If the stress caused by limited resources broke up families, divorce would be limited to the lower income levels. No, the problem is cultural and it probably admits of only cultural solutions. Until the popular culture makes divorces declasse and honors successful marriages there will likely be no alleviation of the divorce rate or in its consequences. We should all be sympathetic and helpful to anyone escaping an abusive relationship, but there should also be a great sadness when a marriage has failed, particularly a marriage with children. Many become indignant when a Little League umpire makes an unpopular call, but most barely shrug a shoulder when a neighbor leaves his wife. Even in religious communities, there are deep wells of concern for pornography and violence in the culture, but divorce within these communities is sometimes ignored. Perhaps there is a reticence to criticize others for situations we fear we may be involved in. Perhaps, we are all comfortable with lower, more easily attainable, standards. The sinews of community in modern America have attenuated, but until peers make clear disapproval of the cavalier severing of marriage bonds it is likely we will continue to suffer the effects of dissolved families. Children will pay the price of our self-centeredness.
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Frank:"People should be encouraged to work as hard as possible to nurture families." And how are you going to achieve that? If you stigmatize divorce -- which is the same thing as idealizing ...
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Steve,
I believe you have missed my point. To argue that children of divorce would be as bad off if their parents were compelled to remain together is to invoke the fallacy of ``false alterna ...
-- posted by Frank_Monaldo
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Frank:It is another conservative myth that divorce negatively affects kids. While it is true that kids from divorced homes suffer more problems than from intact homes, the fact is that an abusive, ...
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Dear Steve and Dan,My hidden agenda is very simple. If I could just get Steve married with children, he might not have the time to write comments that are longer than my original essay. Ste ...
-- posted by Frank_Monaldo
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Frank:Your article dredges up several conservative myths about the 60s, divorce, and the idyllic marriage. First, you should know that the correlation between income and marriage is one of the ...
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