Tuesday, July 25, 2006
Every once in a while comes along a story...
so bizarre, that it just warrants mentioning. Take this gem on MSNBC. In a not so surprising move, the federal government has decided to fund programs designed to 'encourage' marriage. This is not a newsflash, the Bushies have long lauded the "culture of marriage"(at least for straight people), to go along with the "culture of life"(for the unborn) and wrapped it up in their larger view of religion(Christianity, preferably in supersized groupthink oriented churches).
What is new in this article is some of the justifications given for encouraging marriage, which let me say are just priceless. The Bush administration sees marriage as a type of welfare reform. You see if you get the huddled masses to huddle in families, the thought is with multiple incomes, they'll no longer need government assistance. Furthermore says a Bushite spokesperson, welfare reform would cure all sorts of social ills:
"Children who grow up in healthy, stable, married households don't wake up one day and decide they want to run away to Hollywood and become street prostitutes," said Wade Horn, the Bush administration's point man for welfare reform. "Couples in a healthy, stable married relationship don't come home one day and decide they want to abuse their children. This, in my view, is an exercise in limited government."
Right so if a child's parents are married and living together, they will automatically resist the temptation to become harlots. While undoubtedly prostitution is caused by many things, my guess is that single parent households are not high on the list. Further, this just another indication of the right wing obsession with sex. Rather than worry about social ills like, drug usage, child abuse, violence against women, and lack of economic opportunity in poor communities(ya know, the stuff that actually could cause prostitution). They are worried about the sex trade itself, not curing the ills that might actually have something to do with it.
In addition the government's efforts to encourage marriage seem disingenuous at best. Instead of taking the usual government route -- undertaking a national study of marriage and divorce practices, then setting up top-down programs to help encourage marriage and discourage divorce -- the government is providing grants to private organizations. The example cited in the article is almost comical:
Marriage Mentoring Ministries, which works with church groups, already has obtained one grant for $50,000, which McLain used to hire a part-time employee and to purchase a computer and printer as well as other supplies. He used the equipment to make thousands of leaflets about the benefits of marriage.
Leaflets! Yippee problem solved!
Not to mention the fact that the religious right's goals work in direct opposition to one another. For example, by forcing a culture of abstinence before marriage, you're actually encouraging prostitution. If you can't be with the one you love, pay someone to love you. Further, no sex before marriage also causes younger people to marry in a quest to fulfill their prurient desires. This leads to marriages based on lust, not love, which are much more likely to fail causing divorce and more single parents, that other great Republican social ill.
Of course a government funded study would probably reveal these trends, and it might even suggest ways to help married people below the poverty line. But hey, that would be big government, we should just pay someone to print pamphlets.
What is new in this article is some of the justifications given for encouraging marriage, which let me say are just priceless. The Bush administration sees marriage as a type of welfare reform. You see if you get the huddled masses to huddle in families, the thought is with multiple incomes, they'll no longer need government assistance. Furthermore says a Bushite spokesperson, welfare reform would cure all sorts of social ills:
"Children who grow up in healthy, stable, married households don't wake up one day and decide they want to run away to Hollywood and become street prostitutes," said Wade Horn, the Bush administration's point man for welfare reform. "Couples in a healthy, stable married relationship don't come home one day and decide they want to abuse their children. This, in my view, is an exercise in limited government."
Right so if a child's parents are married and living together, they will automatically resist the temptation to become harlots. While undoubtedly prostitution is caused by many things, my guess is that single parent households are not high on the list. Further, this just another indication of the right wing obsession with sex. Rather than worry about social ills like, drug usage, child abuse, violence against women, and lack of economic opportunity in poor communities(ya know, the stuff that actually could cause prostitution). They are worried about the sex trade itself, not curing the ills that might actually have something to do with it.
In addition the government's efforts to encourage marriage seem disingenuous at best. Instead of taking the usual government route -- undertaking a national study of marriage and divorce practices, then setting up top-down programs to help encourage marriage and discourage divorce -- the government is providing grants to private organizations. The example cited in the article is almost comical:
Marriage Mentoring Ministries, which works with church groups, already has obtained one grant for $50,000, which McLain used to hire a part-time employee and to purchase a computer and printer as well as other supplies. He used the equipment to make thousands of leaflets about the benefits of marriage.
Leaflets! Yippee problem solved!
Not to mention the fact that the religious right's goals work in direct opposition to one another. For example, by forcing a culture of abstinence before marriage, you're actually encouraging prostitution. If you can't be with the one you love, pay someone to love you. Further, no sex before marriage also causes younger people to marry in a quest to fulfill their prurient desires. This leads to marriages based on lust, not love, which are much more likely to fail causing divorce and more single parents, that other great Republican social ill.
Of course a government funded study would probably reveal these trends, and it might even suggest ways to help married people below the poverty line. But hey, that would be big government, we should just pay someone to print pamphlets.
