When Newt Gingrich innocently proposed to revive orphanages, the media, the Clintohs, and the children’s lobby went honkers. A primitive idea, they insisted. Maybe not, said sociologist Charles Murray, when you consider the alternatives. If you died, Murray asked, would you want your surviving children to be raised by a welfare mother, in the foster care system, or in an orphanage run by a church or synagogue? Good question. So THE WEEKLY STANDARD had pollster Fred Steeper of Market Strategies ask it in a national survey of 1,000 Americans conducted August 25-28. The result: 55 percent chose an orphanage, 16 percent a welfare mother, 16 percent the foster care system, 13 percent didn’t know.
