Maybe I do - a review

The West is experiencing a major birth dearth. Russian population, for example, is likely to fall from 143 million to just 107 million by 2050. Pronatalist inducements are being tried in various nations to turn these worrying trends around. Singapore for example utilised them after they had a disastrous experiment with antinatalist policies. But it is easier to decrease birthrates than increase them.

Andrews looks at specific concepts to restore a pro-family and pro-marriage culture. These include Family Impact Statements to accompany all legislative proposals. Along with this is the Marriage and Family Policy Grid which asks four questions of any measure:

• Does it enhance marriage?
• Does it enhance the ability of parents to have children?
• Does it enhance good parenting skills and parental involvement with children?
• Does it enhance ongoing involvement of parents with children following separation?

Other items include more emphasis on pre-marital education, publicly promoting the value of marriage, making the taxation system more family-friendly, and offering more flexibility in work and family arrangements. He admits that getting serious about all this is not always easy, and few countries have a serious national family policy in place.

He argues that two key principles should underpin any family policy: it should protect and foster marriage and healthy families; and wherever possible, it should support, encourage and utilise family and community organisations, rather than supplant them

His concluding remarks are right on the money: "How we preserve marriage – against the cultural and economic pressures that threaten to overwhelm it – as the foundation of healthy family life, the protective institution for children, the crucible of the free market, and the essential condition for democracy, will determine the health and longevity of the critical institutions of the western liberal experiment. The future of individuals, families, communities and nations is tied to the outcome."

Quite so. Marriage and family are under heavy fire at the moment, yet they offer so many tremendous benefits to individuals, to children and to societies. We must not allow these invaluable institutions to be undermined and destroyed. They deserve protection, endorsement and celebration. This book helps us to do just that.