Charles Murray identified this problem in an article in the Wall Street Journal. He came up with possible solutions that he felt would cure this societal illness. His suggestions were good but unreasonable. He touches on both societal and governmental reform and although many of his suggestions are valid they would cause more harm then good. His recommendations include ending governmental economic support such as welfare, subsidized housing and food stamps, increasing social stigma, and returning to the ideals held in the mid 20th century. Although these suggestions do contain some validity in theory, I don't believe that implementation would have the desired effect.

Another of Murray's ideas to cut down on illegitimate births is to instill on society that people who have illegitimate children should be looked down upon. This Scarlet Letter approach is wrong and has no place in our society today. No one is in the position to judge another human being and this suggestion is absurd. Turning single mothers and their babies into outcasts will produce many of the same effects that are already taking place. If you look down on a single mother then how will her baby be viewed when he ages? I fear a day when our society looks down on people for such reasons because it will be the beginning of a horrible time in history.

Murray feels that by cutting out this policy women won't have that safety net. This will cause them to be less sexually active in turn cutting down the number of illegitimate births. This may work for some women, but Murray doesn't stipulate as to what happens to the women it does not work for. Cutting out the welfare system will leave those who use, rather than abuse, the system out in the cold. It may help decrease the number of illegitimate births but it will also bring great harm to many babies and children. Welfare checks are often used to put clothing on the baby's backs and help to support their needs as they grow. Without that money the baby's health is put into great jeopardy. Undoubtedly the current welfare system isn't flawless but abolishing it would have much worse effects on children then what is already in place. Instead of using Murray's solution of downright ending welfare simply altering the system could solve many of the problems.

Lastly is the idea to reinforce the ideals of the mid 20th century. This would include reinstating the values of marriage and family and the morals of the 1950's. Murray want to repaint the picture of the mom and dad with 2.75 kids and a dog named Lassie. Murray makes this

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Approximate Word count = 1278
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)