Dan Quayle on Murphy Brown

Rather than damning Quayle for his comments on the television show “Murphy Brown” and the issue of single-parent families, we should be praising him. We should praise him for three reasons: 1) for being honest enough to say something that would be politically unpopular to a significant number of people, 2) for being forthright enough to publicly state his own opinion on an issue, and 3) for being bold enough to state what many of us know to be true but are afraid to publicly state-- single-parent families are a problem both generally and specifically. They are a problem generally because they have become widespread with far-reaching social ramifications, and they are a problem specifically because mothers who arrogantly and blindly believe that the influence of a man is completely unnecessary in the raising of children are fooling themselves and possibly hurting their children.

KENNETH M. BAUER

Santa Monica