David Brooks says this:
"If you believe in the centrality of family, you have to have a government that ... SUPPLIES WAGE SUBSIDIES TO MEN TO MAKE THEM MARRIAGEABLE." (ellipsis/emphasis added to make sure you don't miss it.)
You can look it up. He says that.
Thanks to Jim D for pointing this out. I had missed it. I thought it was just a run-of- the mill paean to Santorum. The collective values, the communitarianism, that's all fine.
But D-Bro raised it to a whole other level. We have to PAY men to get married. He actually comes close to saying, "If you are getting the milk for free, why buy the cow?"
6 comments:
I think you're misinterpreting Brooks just slightly; he's not saying you have to pay men to get married. He thinks you have to pay men so that women will be willing to marry them. I'm guessing his thinking is that as the returns to traditionally male-dominated, blue collar occupations have fallen over the past 40 years or so, a greater and greater percentage of men have become "unmarriageable," as they no longer have an income level adequate to attain them long term commitment from a woman, and this is why marriage rates have fallen so far among the working classes while illegitimacy rates have soared. Brooks is assuming, I believe, that these men would like to get married but cannot.
I'm not sure if he's correct about the last part, but I think there's definitely something to the idea of working class men not being considered desirable marriage partners these days.
Obligatory disclaimer: simply giving them money for being men hardly seems like a sensible policy response, which is where our dear Mr. Brooks and his bro Santorum seem to be headed.
If you drink milk from every cow that comes along, you are sure to get brucellosis. Just saying. dave.s.
well anonymous - then slaughter the cow, sell the meat and buy beer.
Actually, thinking about it, when I was a lad we got nickel milk at school for lunch - subsidized heavily. So there's a long history of paying for milk for the good of the children. Not to mention fighting the Heartbreak Of Brucellosis. dave.s.
Clearly, increasingly low-wage employment is unconducive to marriage which makes for an interesting tension between conservatives of free-market and family values varieties.
nice catch - I missed that line when I read the article
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