The Place of Marriage in Democracy\u27s Formative Project

Shoring up the institution of marriage is a theme in the mar riage movement and in recent legislative debates over welfare reform and family policy. One common premise is that strength ening marriage and renewing a marriage culture is vital to national health and that the best way for government, at all lev els, to strengthen and support families and to foster the well being of children is to promote and support marriage (Marriage Movement; Bush, 2002) Calls to renew civil society identify marital, two-parent families as foremost among the seedbeds of civic virtue upon which our Nation depends for the successful task of social reproduction (A Call to Civil Society, 1999; McClain and Fleming)