Some conservatives want to make it a lot harder to dissolve a marriage.

Before the 1960s, it was really hard to get divorced in America.

Typically, the only way to do it was to convince a judge that your spouse had committed some form of wrongdoing, like adultery, abandonment, or ā€œcrueltyā€ (that is, abuse). This could be difficult: ā€œEven if you could prove you had been hit, that didnā€™t necessarily mean it rose to the level of cruelty that justified a divorce,ā€ saidĀ Marcia Zug, a family law professor at the University of South Carolina.

Then came a revolution: In 1969, then-Gov. Ronald Reagan of California (who was himself divorced) signedĀ the nationā€™s first no-fault divorce law, allowing people to end their marriages without proving theyā€™d been wronged. The move was a recognition that ā€œpeople were going to get out of marriages,ā€ Zug said, and gave them a way to do that withoutĀ resorting to subterfuge. Similar laws soon swept the country, and rates ofĀ domestic violence and spousal murderĀ began to drop as people ā€” especially women ā€” gained more freedom to leave dangerous situations.

Today, however, a counter-revolution is brewing:Ā Conservative commentatorsĀ andĀ lawmakersĀ are calling for an end to no-fault divorce, arguing that it has harmed men and even destroyed the fabric of society. Oklahoma state Sen. Dusty Deevers, for example,Ā introduced a billĀ in January to ban his stateā€™s version of no-fault divorce. The Texas Republican Party added a call to end the practice to itsĀ 2022 platformĀ (the plank is preserved inĀ the 2024 version). Federal lawmakers like Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) andĀ House Speaker Mike Johnson, as well as former Housing and Urban Development SecretaryĀ Ben Carson, have spoken out in favor of tightening divorce laws.

  • Jiggle_Physics@lemmy.world
    0Ā·
    3 months ago

    Yeah we had a big quiverfull church not far from where I used to live. They were in a cycle of being in the news every few years for how they promote their flock to get on government assistance to afford more kids. People making six figure incomes were getting a variety of benefits because they had over a dozen kids, in two cases two dozen kids. This would piss people, garner calls for legal changes to stop this abuse, bring up how they are exactly the type of people who want to scare people with ā€œwelfare queenā€ stories, etc.

    For a couple generations, the pumping out children mandate made it grow. However, around the third generation they started seeing a steep decline in parishionership. Basically the founding membersā€™ kids werenā€™t nearly as willing to stay in this cult, and by their grand childrenā€™s generation, their birthrate wasnā€™t enough to replace their flock. By the time their great grand kidsā€™ generation came around (current time) they were quickly dwindling in numbers. Now every time their welfare stuff hits the news they now have interviews with people who cut their families off, and left the cult, being interviewed about how insane they are.

    From what I have been able to find, this seems to be the general timeline of these ā€œsuper familyā€ sects. They burn themselves out, and as time time progresses, the burnout comes more, and more, quickly. So the long term prospects of the baby factory faiths isnā€™t good.

    • TexasDrunk@lemmy.world
      2Ā·
      3 months ago

      I sure am feeling like a rambling old man today.

      By the time the oldest kids become parents theyā€™re already tired of being parents because mom and dad canā€™t possibly keep up with a dozen kids and sure arenā€™t paying nannies and babysitters.

      By the time a couple generations go by, thereā€™s no more help. They still get government assistance if they donā€™t get out but grandma and great-grandma still have school aged kids and arenā€™t helping (letā€™s face it, pappy ainā€™t doing it).

      So who the fuck is taking care of these hundred and change kids? Itā€™s only good for a surge unless you have multiple wives (again, you know the guys arenā€™t doing it), which is not happening at a rate that makes a difference, although that happens a little bit. So by that third generation youā€™ve got a fuck-ton of kids who definitely think itā€™s bullshit.

      I grew up in a semi-related cult and saw that happen in real time. The one I grew up in wasnā€™t the ā€œsuper familyā€ welfare abuse type but did preach to have as many as you could handle while still being able to afford them. I personally know the people youā€™re talking about and theyā€™re super literalists, young earth creationists, and dispensationalists who hand wave millennialism with ā€œa day is as a thousand years and a thousand years is as a dayā€. Some of them believe that the war in heaven started the day the Jewish people went back to Israel and that the horsemen of the apocalypse are already here. Some referred to covid as either Plague or Death until they decided it was fake. Theyā€™re sure that every event is the harbinger of the rapture.

      Hearing these people talk is fucking wild. I know theyā€™re a minority, but if you go into some of the more insular rural communities youā€™ll meet them and they are fucking serious. They donā€™t understand why you and all of their kids canā€™t just see whatā€™s happening.