Social legislation in this area now includes welfare, no-fault divorce, child protective services, the juvenile justice system, centralized education, and government programs for child support, foster care, and adoption. They have watched as AFDC benefits have become an attractive alternative to marriage. State regulations have made it more difficult for adoptions to occur. The foster-care system often does more harm to the child than good. Child-support enforcement has been a disaster.
Parents have less and less say in the education of their children.
On top of all this, the average family now pays 40 percent of its income to government at all levels. We have abdicated to government our responsibilities in increments not discernible to the naked eye, but so consistently that it has become the greatest threat to our freedom in modern times. We often forget that the original purpose of democratic government was to protect the rights of individuals and to provide for things which we could not possibly provide for on our own . In all that the people can individually do as well for themselves, government ought not to interfere. As examples of legitimate government functions, Lincoln listed maintenance of roads and bridges, disposal of deceased men's property, and support of the helpless young.