Some of Us Like Being Federalized!

So new numbers are out about teen-age birth rates. And the New York Times' token conservative is, unsurprisingly, the one to respond. Ross Douthat (or should it be Don'tdouthat?) points out that there isn't actually much evidence that sex education classes, whether abstinence-only or otherwise, have much effect on whether kids have (safe or not) sex.

I can totally believe that. It's important for kids to understand the plumbing and the mechanics, but I'm fairly certain the vast majority of teenage pregnancies do not happen because girls are so naive that they let him "do everything but kiss me, since Mother and Daddy said never to let a boy kiss me." (I swear I read about a case like that in Dear Abby once though.)

I believe that Douthat is probably onto something when he says that there are much better ways to keep kids from having kids. They're probably things that would be even more widely beneficial too.

But I strongly disagree with the rest of his point. Douthat says that sex ed funds should have their strings cut; they should be available but how they're used should be based on local standards.

He says we should just avoid the conflict, the culture war "between parents in Berkeley, say, who don’t want their kids being taught that premarital intercourse is something to feel ashamed about and parents in Alabama who don’t want their kids being lectured about the health benefits of masturbation."

He thinks we should not "try to encourage Berkeley values in Alabama, or vice versa."

Except here's the thing: one of the things the federal government is good for is protecting minority populations in certain sections of the country where they don't have much political power. We know a little something about this here in the Heart of Dixie, don't we?

I know plenty of parents here in my blood red state who would like their kids to get the full monty when it comes to sex ed, whether other people like the idea or not. Who speaks for them? Who serves their interests?

I have written before about the notion of states' rights becoming obsolete. Douthat doesn't seem to agree. Perhaps he needs to stop depending on generalities so much. You'd think a conservative working at the NYT would know better!