Rhapsodizing about the benefits of marriage

I did not think I would live to see the day when an ultraorthodox social liberal such as Washington Post columnist Ruth Marcus would "rhapsodize about the benefits of marriage."  But, mirabile dictu, the day has come. It has been hastened by a Pew Research Center study of the baleful social and economic consequences of the decline of marriage. As social conservatives have been saying since the dawn of the modern sexual revolution, marriage really is the original and best department of health, education, and welfare. A society that fails to maintain a healthy marriage culture will always pay a heavy price---a price that will be disproportionately borne by the poor.

Commenting on the Pew Study, Ruth Marcus says:  "Rhapsodizing about the benefits of marriage may have a conservative air — promoting marriage among welfare recipients was a big deal during the George W. Bush administration — but you don’t have to be a conservative to bemoan these statistics."

Here's her column:  http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/the-marriage-gap-presents-a-real-cost/2011/12/16/gIQAz24DzO_story.html