Ben Carson (photo, left), a celebrity surgeon turned failed politician (see bio here) and possible 2024 Trump running mate, wants to end no-fault divorce, NBC News reported on Tuesday, May 14, 2024 (read story here).
“For the sake of families,” he says. His shtick is that if divorcing is easy, “it’s natural for people to gravitate [to] that option when their marriage hits a rough patch” (e.g., adultery or wife beating).
Carson complained “those people” don’t consider “the harm … inflicted on their children.” (When someone leaves a marriage to protect their kids, I suspect they do.)
Under his social scheme, divorce would still be available in such cases, but the petitioning spouse would have to be prove legally sufficient cause to a judge.
That involves hiring lawyers, making court appearances, and presenting evidence. A wife might have to hire a private eye to get evidence of cheating; a mother would have to spend time away from her children compiling police reports. It would also consume judges’ time and tie up already overworked courts.
Before no-fault divorce, many women didn’t have the resources or emotional fortitude to jump through all the hoops, so they stayed in abusive marriages. It’s hard to see how this benefits children. It’s also hard to see how forcing people to stay in failed marriages benefits society. It makes for a society of unhappy people.
Even if fault divorce sounds good in theory, there’s a lot of room for unanticipated consequences. Society got rid of it because it didn’t work in practice.
It’s a bad idea, but when do Republicans or conservatives ever have good ideas?
Divorce may become academic. People aren’t getting married anymore like they used to. Of course, as the marriage rate declines, so does the divorce rate (see story here). No marriages, no divorces. Younger generations seem to prefer relationships.
Now let’s talk about a couple of other things.
If you’re tired of old men running our government, Carson’s not your man. He’s 72 years old.
Republicans claim to be for individual freedom, but lately they’re intruding in our personal lives and taking away rights. Carson’s idea expands this trend.
The GOP claims to be for states’ rights, which served as cover for segregation the last time it was popular, but Carson appears to be advocating a national ban on no-fault divorce.
He’s not alone; the Supreme Court conservatives overturned Roe v. Wade on the premise abortion laws should be up to the states, but a Trump-appointed judge issued a nationwide injunction against the most popular abortion pill, and many Republicans are pushing for a national abortion ban.
It’s all part of a pattern. Conservative talk about “freedom” is a cover. Their real agenda is to run our lives in hopes of recreating a “Leave It To Beaver” society that never existed for most Americans. That kind of lifestyle requires a prosperity that’s only a pipedream for America’s workers, thanks to Republican economic policies that have funneled virtually all of the last half century’s growth to the capitalist class.
The Republican Party isn’t the party of family values they claim to be. If they were, they’d support a living wage for everyone. They’re the party of bossing others around, usually for their own benefit. Forced marriage is merely a follow-on for forced birth.