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Leave Us Alone

Here’s a letter to the Boston Globe:

Joanna Weiss asserts that the lack of government-mandated paid maternity leave in the United States is “a sign of how little our society values childrearing” (“Family values?” August 15).

I have a different take: the lack of government mandated paid maternity leave in the United States is a sign of how much – at least relative to many other countries – our society values freedom of contract and the voluntary choices of adults over the paternalistic commands of the state.

Sincerely,
Donald J. Boudreaux

My wise friend Barry Conner has a different, and better, perspective on Joanna Weiss’s claim.  Barry says that “the lack of government-mandated paid maternity leave in the United States is a sign of how greatly our society values childrearing, so much it is largely willing to shoulder the responsibility without the nanny state.”

UPDATE: says David Boaz

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