President Bush and Vice President Quayle last week reopened a national debate about single parenthood and other family issues with speeches that cited the loss of 鈥渇amily values鈥� as a major reason for the recent riots in Los Angeles and other societal problems.
In a widely quoted speech, Vice President Quayle told a civic group in San Francisco that the problems facing inner-city families reflect 鈥渇undamentally a poverty of values.鈥�
Calling marriage 鈥減robably the best anti-poverty program of all,鈥� he advocated new 鈥渟ocial sanctions鈥� that favor two-parent households.
鈥淏earing babies irresponsibly is, simply, wrong,鈥� he said. 鈥淔ailing to support children one has fathered is wrong. We must be unequivocal about this.鈥�
鈥淚t doesn鈥檛 help matters when prime-time TV has Murphy Brown鈥攁 character who supposedly epitomizes today鈥檚 intelligent, highly paid, professional woman鈥攎ocking the importance of fathers by bearing a child alone, and calling it just another 鈥榣ifestyle choice,鈥欌�� Mr. Quayle said.
The Vice President鈥檚 reference to the television character in the popular program of the same name, who in last week鈥檚 episode gave birth to an out-of-wedlock child fathered by her ex-husband, unleashed a storm of criticism and dominated much of the ensuing discussion.
At a stop at the Bret Harte Middle School in South-Central Los Angeles, the heart of the recent riots, the Vice President reiterated his theme the day following his May 19 speech.
鈥淢y complaint is that Hollywood thinks it鈥檚 cute to glamorize illegitimacy,鈥� he was quoted as telling reporters. 鈥淗ollywood doesn鈥檛 get it.鈥�
In a speech last Thursday to a business group in Cleveland, Gov. Bill Clinton of Arkansas, the apparent Democratic nominee for President, said that Mr. Quayle鈥檚 speech 鈥渋gnores the relationship of our family problems to our economic decline, holds out Murphy Brown as a bigger problem than TV鈥檚 crass commercialism and glorification of selfishness and violence, and denies the Administration鈥檚 responsibility to face the full range of America鈥檚 staggering family problems.鈥�
Mr. Clinton laid out his own agenda on family issues, which he said offers a 鈥渢hird way鈥� that goes beyond traditional Republican and Democratic solutions. He called for expansion of the earned-income tax credit, welfare reform, renewed efforts to collect child-support payments, adoption of family-leave legislation, full funding of Head Start, and school sex-education programs.
The White House, meanwhile, appeared ambivalent about the Vice President鈥檚 criticism of the 鈥淢urphy Brown鈥� show. Marlin Fitzwater, the President鈥檚 chief spokesman, endorsed Mr. Quayle鈥檚 comments, but later also stressed that the television character鈥檚 decision not to have an abortion was in line with the Administration鈥檚 position.
Families 鈥楿nder Siege鈥�
President Bush, in a May 17 commencement address at the University of Notre Dame, also cited the loss of family values as the underlying cause of societal unrest.
鈥淎t the heart of the problems facing our country stands an institution under siege,鈥� Mr. Bush said. 鈥淭hat institution is the American family. Whatever form our most pressing problems take鈥攗ltimately, all are related to the disintegration of the family.鈥�
He noted that, compared with other industrialized countries, the United State leads in percentages of divorce, single-parent households, and violent deaths among young people.
In a response to those who said, following the Los Angeles riots, that the government should take the primary role in rebuilding the nation鈥檚 cities, the President said: 鈥淚 am absolutely convinced that today鈥檚 crisis will have to be addressed by millions of Americans at the personal, individual level for governmental programs to be effective.鈥�
鈥淎nd the federal government, of course, must do everything it can do,鈥� he added, 鈥渂ut the point is government alone is simply not enough.鈥�
鈥淕overnment can and we must foster American competitiveness,鈥� he continued. 鈥淏ut parents must teach their children the dignity of work and instill a work ethic in the kids.鈥�
