Making divorce harder to get not the solution

Marriage is the most personal and private of our institutions. Although licenses to wed are issued by the state, many of us feel it is the recognition under the eyes of God that actually validates and sanctifies the bond between husband and wife. The state's role is to guarantee that individuals' rights are protected, not to supervise the course of the marriage.

Divorce, when it occurs, is always regrettable, a personal failure men and women must publicly confess. But to what extent should the state be granted the right to interfere in the private decisions made by free adults?

A bill introduced in the Texas Legislature would radically alter the state's divorce laws to make getting a divorce considerably harder. This measure is a misguided effort give the state greater prohibitive control over circumstances that are best addressed by our religious and social institutions.

Current Texas law permits one party to obtain a divorce after a 60-day waiting period. Neither husband nor wife has to be judged at fault for the marriage's failure.

One-year wait

The proposed bill would require both parties' consent and a one-year waiting period, provided they have no children under 18. If the couple have children or only one party consents, a divorce could be granted if one spouse proves the other was at fault - such as being absent, unfaithful, abusive or a convicted felon.

The situations for which this new bill is dangerous should be obvious. Should a battered wife who is in fear for her own safety and that of her young children be forced to prove her case in court before she is allowed to escape her tormenter? What is the state accomplishing by demanding such a marriage continue?

How many cases would ensue in which private investigators and prostitutes stage adulterous scenarios so that one spouse would have the necessary legal grounds to sue for divorce? How much fraud and lying would judges have to hear and at what larger burden of court and legal costs?

Can't make people perfect

We all want everyone's marriage to work. We want to see families stay together. But we can't pass laws that make people perfect. And we should admit to ourselves that sometimes it is bad marriages that destroy families, not divorce.

The way to keep fathers and mothers together is not by making it harder for them to leave each other, but by helping them better plan their marriages in the first place and deal with the problems that come up along the way, long before divorce ever becomes an option.

That's the role of our ministers and churches and counselors and teachers and our own parents and friends and family members. Granting that role to the state produces the kind of government tyranny over individual freedom that is anathema not only to Texans, but to all Americans.

Positive approach

Texans don't get married because they're thinking about how easy it is to get divorced. The problem, often, is simply that they're not thinking, period. Making divorce harder is the negative way to seek a solution. The positive method of building healthy marriages is harder to achieve, but it's the one that really works.

The state's intrusion into our private homes should remain at a minimum. Micro-managing Texans' personal lives, even with the best of intentions, is not not the right mode of operation for the Legislature to adopt.