by: F.R. Duplantier

"We live in the aftermath of the Sexual Revolution," observes Allan Carlson of the Howard Center for Family, Religion & Society. In a recent issue of the Howard Center's monthly newsletter, The Family in America, Carlson traces the progress of that revolution over the last four decades and concludes that "this event has now just about run its course."

Carlson divides the Sexual Revolution into three phases. "The first task," he recalls, "was to separate sex from marriage, to make fornication respectable, to unleash Eros from the normative restraints created by several thousand years of Judeo-Christian civilization. Early victories included Alfred Kinsey's bogus reports on male and female sexuality, which both the press and the scientific community swallowed whole. Then came the Playboy philosopher himself," Carlson continues, citing fleshmonger Hugh Hefner as the man who "transformed prostitution into a free good and moved pornography from the sordid shop to the supermarket news rack."

According to Carlson, "The next step was to separate childbearing from marriage. Sociologists and lawmakers gave their blessing, scuttling the concept of 'illegitimacy' in favor of the morally neutral 'out-of-wedlock birth.' The Federal government," he notes, "pumped many billions of dollars into welfare programs to insure that husbandless mothers would suffer no financial penalty for their lifestyle choice."

Carlson identifies the third phase of the Sexual Revolution as "the absolute separation of babies and children from sex" and the adoption of "a complete philosophy of pleasure." Reluctantly concluding that the majority of Americans have now become thoroughgoing hedonists, Carlson argues that "Bill Clinton is the perfect leader of the Free Sexual World, which explains his popularity here and in Europe."

Fortunately, the Sexual Revolution is self-limiting. While waiting for the collapse of our self-indulgent culture, Carlson encourages Americans with traditional morals and large families to support "every proposed curtailment of the central government. Let a thousand little communities bloom," he advises. "Build political alliances with other breeding populations, old stock and new. Seek tax cuts premised on marriage and family size. Shelter your children from the majoritarian Culture of Clinton. Create your own school. Inculturate your own young into an ethos of righteous defiance. And," Carlson concludes, "have another child."

Have several, I say. You'll get used to the stares, the head shakes, and the clucks of disapproval from total strangers in the supermarket and the shopping mall. My wife and I did. When clerks and fellow customers inquire, "Are they all yours?" we let loose with witty rejoinders like "No, we found three of them." When impertinent clods demand to know if we're "planning more," we stun them with the revelation that we didn't "plan" the ones we have. If they're rude enough to wonder if we're "finished yet," we appall them by confiding that we're shooting for the Guinness record. Don't we believe in birth control? For people who can't mind their own business, absolutely! And to the female co-worker who, instead of congratulating me on my wife's latest pregnancy, crudely cracked, "Why don't you get that thing fixed?" I had the pleasure of responding, in mock amazement: "Fixed? But it's working perfectly!"