The Busybody Party

In this week's nutty state legislator news:

In Wisconsin, a state senator has introduced a bill aimed at penalizing single mothers by calling their unmarried status a contributing factor in neglect.

Senate Bill 507, introduced by Republican Senator Glenn Grothman, moves to amend existing state law by "requiring the Child Abuse and Neglect Prevention Board to emphasize nonmarital parenthood as a contributing factor to child abuse and neglect." 

This is being played in some quarters as a conservative attack on single motherhood, but really it is a perfect expression of busybody syndrome, the inability to leave other people alone. Some people just can't stop meddling in other people's lives. When those people become legislators, they write pointless laws like this one. Trust me, social workers are perfectly aware that, ideally, kids should live with both their parents, but they generally don't get involved in families where that is working out well.

My first law of politics is, resist the urge to tell other people what to do.