The marriage decline happened first, though.
No it did not...maybe amongst black families, but no other. Perhaps you were confused when I said that I had been pointing this out for ten years..I am an early Freeper from back in 2001.
This economic mayhem for the middle class has been GOING ON since the 80's; I should have been more clear.
It's really quite simple. When Daddy makes enough to provide a better lifestyle than Uncle Sam, there will be marriage...as in anything else in life...follow the money.
“The marriage decline happened first, though.”
It may be elites at the top of the society rejecting the Christian religion and adopting secular objectivism as the moral code began the process. Once Christian morals and values were rejected, the “glue” that held society together began to erode. Without a standard of behavior generally accepted by society and enforced by both law and peer pressure, people began shirking personal accountability. Weakening the bonds of marriage - the acceptance of “no fault divorce”, followed by the widespread acceptance of sex before marriage, and then the widespread acceptance of childbirth out of wedlock, have destroyed marriage as an institution that helps to hold society together. Men no longer have a moral or legal obligation to women with whom they procreate — the government now fulfills the role. Children conceived and “nurtured” as wards of the state become slaves of the state and will not become productive members of the middle class as they will not be taught middle class values.