America is facing unprecedented attacks on the institutions of marriage and family. Children in the U.S. are now three times as likely to grow up in a single-parent household as they were in 1960, and over 12 million children now live with a never-married parent. In addition, over half of marriages result in divorce – 60 percent of which involve children. If you also consider the prospect of same-sex “marriage” and same-sex adoption, it is not long before you realize just how bad things have gotten. Certainly these institutions are worth promoting, the question is whether the government should be involved, and if so, what it can do.

The Bush Administration confirmed its commitment to protecting the institution of marriage with an initiative that pledges $1.5 billion to help develop and sustain healthy marriages. Included in this initiative is a push to modify the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity and Reconciliation Act (PRWORA), which in 1996 replaced the welfare program with Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), a program of block grants. The Bush Administration’s plan for reauthorization of the act includes committing up to $300 million per year to encourage states “to increase their efforts to promote child well-being and healthy marriages.”

Marriage promotion initiatives have drawn criticism from both the left and right. Some conservative critics believe that the government should not be involved in marriage which is a personal, private matter. Liberals feel efforts to strengthen marriage divert attention and dollars away from the real issues – poverty, education, unwanted pregnancy, etc.

American Values understands that the best way to combat the dramatic changes to the family that have occurred over the past few decades is to nurture and strengthen it. As Assistant Secretary of Health and Human Services Wade Horn has stated: “If you feel marriage is a social good – good for kids, good for parents, good for society – why shouldn’t government promote it? Why should government be neutral?”

Some of the programs and policies American Values endorses are:

  • Removing economic disincentives to marry or remain married in our tax code, especially for low-income families receiving public assistance.
  • Reforming so-called no-fault divorce laws wherein anybody can end a marriage simply by leaving. Changes are especially necessary when children are involved.
  • Public advertising campaigns that promote the value of marriage and the skills necessary to increase marital stability and health.
  • Funding for schools, churches, and other community organizations to educate people on the value of marriage, relationship skills, budgeting, parental skills programs, conflict management and counseling, marriage mentoring, etc.

Some argue that giving money to healthy marriage initiatives is like robbing Peter to pay Paul because it takes funding away from effective anti-poverty programs. But that is like saying funding for the National Endowment for the Arts takes away from funding for AIDS research. The US government already spends billions of dollars annually to address poverty directly. Funding for the promotion of healthy marriages is an innovative public policy response that will get to the source of many of society’s ills