Top 5: Families, Loss, Human Rights, & Genetics
Top 5 articles for your week:
“What Are Families For?” (Plough Quarterly)
Because the entire current issue of Plough is really, really good. It provides a number of perspectives on the meaning of family. We’d especially commend Ross Douthat’s article on why so many are not producing as many kids as they actually desire and Gina Dalfonzo’s essay on singleness and intentionality.
“Markets and the Strangulation of the American Family” (Mere Orthodoxy)
Because this is one of the most comprehensive articles (which is essentially a review of two recent books) on the economic barriers for multiple family policies. You may have heard some of the arguments before, but this essay puts them all in one place. For reference, the essay reviews Alissa Quart’s Squeezed: Why Our Families Can’t Afford America, and Maxine Eichner’s The Free-Market Family: How the Market Crushed the American Dream (and How It Can Be Restored.
“A Geneticist’s Dilemma” (Washington Post)
Because this article presents the dilemma between scientific advancements, government support for those advancements, and the sovereignty of Native nations, including their religious and cultural traditions.
“Biden Must Stand Up to China on Human Rights” (Foreign Affairs)
Because this is a forceful op-ed on what Biden faces on relations with China: “The human rights norms that China now undermines are global, and the consequences of their weakening will be global, too.”
“The Losses We Share” (NYT)
Because Meghan, the Duchess of Sussex, writes poignantly about the pandemic, loneliness, and her recent miscarriage.