I realize this is from 1995, but shouldn’t Jeb Bush answer for this snippet of foul slime that oozed out of his word processor?
Public shaming would be an effective way to regulate the “irresponsible behavior” of unwed mothers, misbehaving teenagers and welfare recipients, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush (R) argued in his 1995 book Profiles in Character.
In a chapter called “The Restoration of Shame,” the likely 2016 presidential candidate made the case that restoring the art of public humiliation could help prevent pregnancies “out of wedlock.”
One of the reasons more young women are giving birth out of wedlock and more young men are walking away from their paternal obligations is that there is no longer a stigma attached to this behavior, no reason to feel shame. Many of these young women and young men look around and see their friends engaged in the same irresponsible conduct. Their parents and neighbors have become ineffective at attaching some sense of ridicule to this behavior. There was a time when neighbors and communities would frown on out of wedlock births and when public condemnation was enough of a stimulus for one to be careful.
“Name ’em and shame ’em”. That’s George Bush’s prescription for single parentage.
You can think on that for a minute. Because there’s more.
Finished? OK. Now here’s where you might want to read on an empty stomach so you can dry heave instead of lose your lunch. He continues:
Bush points to Nathaniel Hawthorne’s 1850 novel The Scarlet Letter, in which the main character is forced to wear a large red “A” for “adulterer” on her clothes to punish her for having an extramarital affair that produced a child, as an early model for his worldview. “Infamous shotgun weddings and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s Scarlet Letter are reminders that public condemnation of irresponsible sexual behavior has strong historical roots,” Bush wrote.
We liberals like to snark that the Republicans would like to take us back to 1950. Nope, try one hundred years more. Jeb Bush missed the whole point of The Scarlet Letter, because he probably never read it. The shunning of Hester Prynne was a bad thing, you asshole. I never finished it and even I can tell you that it was a tragedy, not a fucking handy guidepost to guard against wanton behavior. Somewhere, Hawthorne’s ghost is fuming, possibly crying a little.