PrintFebruary 24, 2004
The Left's War on the Family
Conservatives have long advocated the importance of strong families and deplored efforts, by socialists, feminists, and government bureaucrats, to weaken familial ties. Indeed, for many conservatives, the family —— the traditional, 'nuclear' family —— is the fundamental cornerstone of society, an absolutely indispensable form of social organization. As John Mueller of the Family Research Council, a conservative advocacy group, has argued, 'the basic social unit of society is the family—based household.' Similarly, former secretary of education William Bennett has written, 'the nuclear family, defined as a monogamous married couple living with their children, is vital to civilization's success.'
Leftists, by contrast, have long taken a decidedly jaundiced view of the traditional family. To them, a household consisting of an adult male and female —— united in matrimony —— and their offspring is an...(Read Full Article)
