The Patriot Post® · Fixing Family Fragmentation

Michael Barone: “How big a problem is family fragmentation? ‘Immense,’ says Mitch Pearlstein, head of the Minnesota think tank Center of the American Experiment. ‘The biggest domestic problem facing this country.’ So big he went out and interviewed 40 experts of varying ideology across the nation and relayed their answers in his book ‘Broken Bonds: What Family Fragmentation Means for America’s Future.’ That’s the good news. The bad news is that none of the experts is confident he has an answer, and neither is Pearlstein. … Some of Pearlstein’s experts call for raising taxes, and some call for lowering them. Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah calls for legislative remedies to reverse ‘implicit marriage penalties in our tax code and welfare programs.’ Such policy changes might be useful ‘nudges,’ to use Harvard law professor (and Obama appointee) Cass Sunstein’s term. But perhaps well-off Americans should, as Charles Murray suggests, preach what they practice. Few Americans want to stigmatize single parents. But should we be afraid to tell people there’s a better way?”