Got this email in response to my column "When Men Act Like Boys:"

Dear Lance,

My name is Randall Shake. I am a twice Married and Divorced Father of 5, and Grandfather. I live in Dallas,Texas in the bible belt. I am by Spiritual Practice a Nichiren Buddhist. And have been defending Christians alot lately as they are the target of Bigotry by the Far Left. The recent law suit by Fathers Rights Groups is long overdue in my opinion.

It raises some serious questions both Conservatives and Liberals refuse to deal with. Men have become Second Class citizens in our culture. With no Reproductive Rights. This law suit strikes at the very heart of the Equal Protection clause of the US Constitution. And it holds the promise of opening a dialog long overdue. Men in the US are tired of No-Fault Divorce and being presented an invoice for their children. With Prison awaiting if they default on payments. Yet with no legal guarantees whatsoever of access to their offspring.

This and the fact that over 70% of Divorces are initiated by Women has led Men to a "Marriage Strike". This has very profound reprecussions for our Republic. One seldom mentioned reality is that our birth rates are only above replacement level due to Anchor Babies. The Babies of Illegal Aliens. Our best and brightest
are not Marrying 22% of Men state they will never Marry. And others are not having children.

When Men have available a safe and effective Means of shutting off the baby Lottery. The Transfer of money to Women from child Support you will hear Women's Groups scream like never before. That day is coming. Men deserve to have choice if Women have choice. Equality has consequences. After decades of having no choice Men are fed up and refuse to play by the rules. Conservatives have been silent about this injustice until very recently.

Regards,

RShake
Dallas,TX

Here's my response:

Mr. Shake, you are correct in most of the things you say. We disagree on what to do about it.

I simply can't agree that men have "no choice." Men do have a choice: keep your pants on.

If men do choose to be sexually active, then we have to accept that there could be consequences, and having the woman make a decision regarding a pregnancy, whether or not we agree with the decision, is one of those consequences.

Women can be irresponsible in ways men can't, in this case: they can choose abortion, or to raise a child without an actively present father. Men have little to no power over this.

But the appropriate response to irresponsibility is not to spread the ability to be irresponsible to more people. It is to demand more responsibility.

Thanks for writing.

Lance

I think Randall found my column via Colleen Hammond, a Texas blogger who linked to it, and who now has a place of honor on my blogroll, foreigner division.