Marriage under assault by unilateral divorce, family courts' bias against dads, & taxpayer-paid financial incentives subsidizing illegitimate births

The attack on the institution of marriage is not only the biggest cultural but also the biggest fiscal issue of our times

writes Phyllis Schlafly (who is also telling Congress that We Want Our Light Bulbs).

Marriage is being assaulted by unilateral divorce, feminist hostility toward marriage, the bias of family courts against fathers, and the taxpayer-paid financial incentives that subsidize illegitimate births.

…Sounding a Moynihan-style alarm today is Robert Rector of the Heritage Foundation. He has assembled figures from U.S. Census Bureau and Centers for Disease Control data, and they are downright scary.

…It's a very big money problem because the government is transferring nearly $1 trillion a year in taxpayer-funded handouts to the 40% of Americans who rely on government for all or part of their living expenses.

A lack of marriage causes poverty. … single moms want their babies and confidently expect Big Brother to provide for them.

Rector's solution to the poverty problem is marriage. He urges government policies to promote and strengthen the institution of marriage instead of providing incentives to discourage it.

Marriage drops the probability of child poverty by 82%. Marriage has just as dramatic an effect as adding 5 to 6 years to the parents' level of education.

If single moms were to marry the fathers of their children, the children would immediately be lifted out of poverty. Eight out of ten of these fathers were employed at the time of the births of their out-of-wedlock children.

Government should reduce or eliminate the marriage penalties in welfare programs, in tax law, and even in ObamaCare.

…Ronald Reagan's advice is still pertinent. If we subsidize something, we'll get more of it; if we tax it, we'll get less of it.

From Phyllis Schlafly's (smashing) list — read them all — of New Year's Resolutions for State Legislators:

• Family Court: "A restraining order for domestic violence shall issue only on proof of clear and convincing evidence" and "divorced parents shall have joint (50-50) legal and physical custody of their children unless proof shows a parent to be unfit." Explanation: The anti-father abuses by family courts must stop. …
  
• Child Protective Services: "All rights accorded to criminal defendants shall likewise be recognized for any family targeted for investigation by a child protective agency." Explanation: Why do criminal defendants have more rights than parents?