Family Matters

I haven't been over to Samizdata in a little while, so I just got around to reading the posts on Terri Schiavo. Check out this quote from Perry de Havilland:

To hear conservatives indicate that a husband is not the person best qualified to decide what his wife would have wanted indicates a view of what marriage constitutes that seems rather at odds with the usual conservative obsession with the importance and gravity of that institution.

I guess I've already made my feelings on this clear. Michael Schiavo stretches the conservative definition of "husband" almost beyond recognition and mocks the "importance and gravity of that institution." But that's not my point. Rather, I wonder, are all libertarians this tribal?

I would have thought that the primacy of the family unit as a group entity would be a social conservative position and the primacy of the individual would be the libertarian position. But here we have SC's saying "Screw the husband, think of Terri" and the Libertarians saying "What about the rights of the husband to speak for the clan." Odd.

Or not. I guess for SCs, "the culture of life" trumps opposition to government intervention in the clan, while for Libertarians, a dim view of government trumps opposition to clan imposition upon the individual.

Still, it's odd to find myself so strongly on the side of the SCs. I bought the whole "rights of the individual" thing hook, line and sinker. Enough to put me at odds with SCs much of the time. I thought it was a liberal and feminist position because, historically, the clan does not act in the interest of any individual member (except possibly the head) and those who suffer the most are the women, who are considered disposable.

Let's review how well the clan takes care of the ladies:

Dowry murder: The Indian government has reported that an estimated 6,000 women a year die as a result of dowry abuse in India. Many more are maimed and injured. While these figures are shocking, they may only be the tip of the iceberg. Others have placed the number of dowry-related deaths closer to 25,000 a year. [snip] The most common form of dowry homicide is a phenomena known as "bride-burning," whereby the women is doused with kerosene and set ablaze. The murder is often made to look like a "kitchen accident" or a suicide.

Female Infanticide: According to a 2001 census, the overall birthrate for India was 927 girls per 1,000 boys, a steady decline from 945 girls per 1,000 boys in 1991 and 962 in 1981. These statistics mean that, as a result of abortions or killing girls in infancy, up to 5 million baby girls "disappear" from India every year.

Honor Killing: In 1999, more than two-thirds of all murders in Gaza strip and West bank were most likely honor killings.

I could go on, but I'm depressing myself and I'm sure you've heard if all before.

I'm glad Perry trusts his wife with his life. I'm sure most married people do. But let's recall that 50% of Americans who marry will find out they were wrong to do so. And a quick google search reminds us that for women all over the world, such trust would certainly be misplaced.

Hence the desire to protect the individual. It's disturbing to see the libertarian side of the blogosphere respond with a giant shrug. Perhaps I'm just dead wrong about libertarian support for individual rights. Maybe, as long as it's dear old dad and not Tom Delay ordering a difficult gal doused in kerosine and set on fire, then it's OK. Libertarians, feel free to jump in here.