REPUBLICANS continue to do a fine job of normalizing family breakdown and sexual freedom. This breezy New York Times profile of Carl P. Paladino includes information about his dog, his favorite vodka and his favorite nighttime ritual. He “travels to the home of Sarah, his daughter from an extramarital relationship, and puts her to bed.” 

Who would be so heartless as to complain about a dad putting his daughter to bed?  Everything has worked out well for the Paladinos, or so they say. Said Paladino’s wife, Cathy:

“Everybody knows anyway … And they should know. They should know the background of people, and they should know that it doesn’t matter how much money you have, how rich you are — things happen. And you deal with them and move on. Every family has problems. Mine’s no different. The only difference is that you happen to know them.”

The fact that things don’t work out so well for the vast majority of people who try this sort of thing is not the Paladinos’ problem. Cathy Paladino is absolutely correct. In a world in which elites scoff at traditional norms, in which family is an evolving series of relationships, “every family has problems.”

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