The Legalization of the Family: Towards a Policy of Supportive Neutrality

In recent years government has withdrawn control from some family matters, while initiating intervention into others. Paradoxically, the intention behind such new regulation has often been to increase individual liberty Nevertheless, increased government involvement created- the "sense that law had seeped into every crevice of American life and that sensible people ought to be asking whether we have gone too far," that underlies this conference. Support for Ronald Reagan's presidential candidacy represents a different kind of response to this feeling, as does such Republican legislation as the proposed Family Protection Act of 1981. Intended to 'reemphasize the values that made this a great nation ,' this bill would bar the use of federal funds for educational materials undermining separate roles for men and women and would bar attorneys of any Legal Services Corporation program from helping poor people obtain divorces.