Driving the news: A recently released survey from the Indispensable Institute for Family Studies shows 'vice has a vice grip on young men.' Among men 18 to 29, 27% view pornography daily, and another 16% do so several times a week. Young men who view pornography multiple times a day are about twice as likely to be lonely and depressed.
The piece also points to public libraries hosting drag queen story hours, school libraries carrying books so explicit that reading them out loud is not allowed at school board meetings, and California's 2022 decriminalization of loitering. It says prostitutes now walk city streets more openly, while the ACLU wants to 'decriminalize sex work.'
By the numbers: In 2024, just under 40% of children were born to unmarried mothers, up from 3.8% in 1940. The piece calls that a tenfold increase and ties broken families to poverty, crime and low student achievement.
There are some policy pushbacks. More than 20 states now require porn sites to verify user age. A few states ban children from attending drag shows. The Trump administration has also pursued some initiatives to boost marriage.
The bottom line: The argument here is not about private indulgence alone. It is about whether a society can protect the virtues and institutions that make liberty sustainable. In this frame, unchecked freedom turns into license, and license is a cost paid by the next generation.