But perhaps the biggest cause of marital stability has to do with the very thing that moralists fulminate against.

ECONOMIST: Marriage: In health | The

We need to be realists because we cannot trust ourselves to be moralists.

NEWYORKER: Getting Real

Irresponsibility might seem to moralists an unsatisfactory condition for an adult, but in practice it can be a huge relief.

ECONOMIST: Being foreign

It was considered a sanctuary and when Paterno accumulated a record total of wins, the moralists mounted a high horse.

WSJ: What Penn State Should Tear Down

Peter Stringfellow, who owns two "gentleman's clubs" in London, says a handful of "moralists" and "extreme feminists" were responsible for driving the agenda.

BBC: The rise and fall of lap dancing

While Mr Reagan managed to keep both western libertarians and southern moralists happy, Mr Bush's southern-fried band of conservatism is anathema in California and increasingly unpopular in such places as Arizona.

ECONOMIST: The Reagan legacy

One up to the moralists.

ECONOMIST: Twenty-five years of AIDS