More on "the two-biological-parent family and economic prosperity"

A couple of days ago I criticized William Jeynes for making an unsubstantiated leap from evidence that single parenthood and broken homes create economic hardship to the assertion that families other than those headed by two biological parents create economic hardship.  Today he has a follow-up essay, and thankfully he focuses primarily on single parenthood.  He still, however, throws in some other arguments in an effort to bring all nontraditional family structures into the picture (e.g., citing research that parents are less likely than stepparents or other sexual partners to abuse children in the household), but none of those arguments advance his initial thesis that two-biological-parent families are essential for economic flourishing.  And then there's his conclusion:

Americans would do well to substantially reduce the extent to which they rely on government for economic solutions to the nation’s struggling GDP and instead rethink their definition of a healthy family based on eternal principles that have stood the test of time.

These arguments really make me squirm.  I'm all in favor of reducing the size of government, and I'm encouraged by the tentative signs that folks in DC are finally talking seriously about taking on the entitlement programs.  I'm also all in favor of supporting the culture of marriage, recognizing both the economic and non-economic costs of single parenthood and broken homes.  But these are two separate arguments, and they need to be carefully laid out because either one can easily escape the boundaries of reality-based recommendations and enter the realm of ideological trump cards.  When we essentially say, "Let's stop relying so much on the government to help people and return to families headed by two biological parents," that tends to come across as cold-hearted to those who could be helped by government intervention, and it can provide an easy excuse for folks to blame the poor for their own predicament.  As Archbishop Nienstedt (no shrinking violet on marriage) recently argued in the context of Minnesota's budget battle, "Government and other institutions have a shared responsibility to promote the common good of all members of our society, especially families who struggle to live with dignity during difficult economic times."