THE REAL AND THE IDEAL: Ben Bateman replies to Mark Miller

Responding to my post, Mark Miller argues that the debate on same-sex parenting is about law, not ideals. He says that it's absurd to think that law should be about ideals, because, for example, divorce is not illegal.

The error here is in confusing "law" with "criminal law." Governments use law to encourage and discourage all sorts of behaviors in all sorts of ways: Charitable contributions are tax deductible. Users of alcohol and tobacco must pay sin taxes. Workers who choose to save some of their paycheck can use retirement plans to defer taxes. Most towns put onerous zoning restrictions on strip clubs.

Ideally, everyone will give generously to charity, abstain from alcohol and tobacco, save money for their own retirement, and avoid strip clubs. We will never reach that ideal. No government has the power to make its citizens completely virtuous. But every government establishes ideals and uses a variety of techniques to push people towards them. No government could survive without doing so. Certainly no government could oversee a prosperous economy without the moral ideal that people should keep their promises, which is the foundation of all modern commerce.

Single-sex parenting is the best available option in many circumstances. But it is not the ideal. It is perfectly ordinary for a government to recognize this ideal by encouraging childrearing by opposite-sex couples, preferably the child's parents, without making single-sex parenting a crime. Governments are not required to criminalize everything they discourage.
posted by Eve at 1:12 AM | link

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