Welfare is a Jealous Polygamist

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Mixed Factuality

Welfare is a Jealous Polygamist

A young mother prepares a meal for her child.Nearly ten years ago, I wrote what I thought was a provocative essay about polygamy and the state. Specifically, I claimed that the state acts like a polygamist, enforcing a cruel and explicitly patriarchal regime on single mothers. Perversely, the justification for this repressive regime is compassion, even “social justice.”  One of the most corrosive aspects of patriarchy is that it treats women as …