Data Point - Marriage rate per 1K Unmarried Women - Granite Grok

Data Point – Marriage rate per 1K Unmarried Women

US Marriage Rate per 1000 Unmarried Women 1968-2008

But the problem, the 800-pound gorilla sitting calmly in the corner, eating Doritos, and throwing the bags in Putnam’s face is not named. It is the destruction of the traditional two-parent family. Instead of dozens of charts, Putnam needed only one

And it all stems from that.  I grew up in a broken home and there was no one there to teach me how to be a Dad as I was growing up.  I never learned the real reason why my Mom & Dad split up so I will never know if it was for infidelity or incompatibility.  I do know, regardless of those extreme points, it was a failure of values:  faithfulness, selflessness, love not as an emotion but as a choice of will, responsibility, and other what used to be considered foundational attitudes: those of “the children come before self” and that a promise of “’til death do you part” really was a promise not to be broken.  Yes, a lot of stuff packed in tight.  No, there was no abuse of which I am aware of, so we can let the dog lie.  But I did sense, even as a young boy when it happened, a tad bit of aloneness creeping in.

No, where once it seemed that marriage was about the children, the next generation, all I see now is a selfish, not selfless, attitude of “if I cannot get what I need from my spouse, if MY needs are not being met, I’m history”.  Instead of the emphasis on the kids, it has become “it’s all about me” instead of losing oneself in your other.

I could go on and maybe at some point I will.  The Left wails about income inequality – study after study has shown that when parents stay together, that is the BIGGEST predictor that the children will stay out of poverty – and the converse almost always shows true.  Our society was built upon a stable, nuclear family.  With the Left changing the culture from the levers of culture makers (the press, Hollywood, TV) and with levers of public policy (with those policies emphasizing the support for single moms at the exclusion of intact families), why should we be surprised?

I’ve oft blogged about the “Wall of Society” – how many bricks can be removed from it by the Left until it starts to tip – and then fall?  Government is not our foundation, it is not what forms our American Exceptionalism – it is our people and that can only happen when values are installed during the parenting stage.  But if 1/2 of the parental unit is gone, it makes it much harder later on.

Go read the rest of the post for more on this.

 

(H/T: RedState)

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