Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Marriage Decline Weakens Middle Class
Newsmax ^ | Wednesday, 19 Dec 2012 10:27 AM | Kathleen Parker

Posted on 12/19/2012 11:58:34 PM PST by Olog-hai

As politicians compete to prove who loves the middle class more, they’re missing the elephant and the donkey in the room.

The middle class needs not just tax breaks and jobs, but also marriage.

This is the finding of a new University of Virginia and Institute for American Values report, “The State of Our Unions,” which tracks the decline of marriage among the nearly 60 percent of Americans who have high school but not college educations.

This not only has far-reaching societal repercussions, but economic as well. By one estimate cited in the report, which was authored by five family scholars, the cost to taxpayers when stable families fail to form is about $112 billion annually—or more than $1 trillion per decade. …

(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...


TOPICS: Chit/Chat; Education; Religion; Society
KEYWORDS: family
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-31 last
To: Anti-Utopian

Well bless your heart!


21 posted on 12/20/2012 6:31:23 AM PST by Ditter
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Olog-hai

Excellent point. Recently ran into a kid I grew up with in the old neighborhood. I don’t think he finished high-school (has a GED maybe). Some other members of the family became criminal near-do-wells. But he is doing well.

Main reasons are 1) he has remained steadily employed since becoming an adult, and 2) he married well and stayed married to a very smart girl who has deftly managed their household affairs.


22 posted on 12/20/2012 6:32:31 AM PST by Buckeye McFrog
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Anti-Utopian

There are good women out there. Don’t paint them all with such a broad brush. Be patient and look in the right places. If there are married women you like, ask them if they have any single friends that are like them. Join church singles’ groups. And don’t rule out dating services. I know several very compatible and contented couples who met via a dating service.

I’m sure there are women out there who would like to be what you would like them to be. I know several young women in my family who are exactly as you describe and, even though they are well educated and have put their careers on hold, they are very happy at this stage in their lives being stay at home moms (even home schooling their children).


23 posted on 12/20/2012 6:53:43 AM PST by randita
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Olog-hai

“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.


24 posted on 12/20/2012 7:15:25 AM PST by Soul of the South
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 5 | View Replies]

To: Olog-hai

Evil if you’re a conservative, twice evil if you’re white, three evils if you’re male, and the soul of all that’s wrong with our society if you’re single. When marriage was the norm men were at fault for disempowering and dominating women. When divorce was the norm men were at fault for not making women feel complete. Now avoiding the whole affair is becoming the norm and men are responsible for the downfall of society.

I wouldn’t be so quick to fault some men for rising from a game that is constantly dealing to them from the bottom of the deck. However, men should never shirk their responsibilities. It’s all in what the “aggrieved gender” thinks the “faulty gender”, should be responsible for. In many relationships it’s simply everything the superior gender doesn’t want to be responsible for, herself.

Leviticus 16:22 “He is to lay both hands on the head of the live goat and confess over it all the wickedness and rebellion of the Israelites—all their sins—and put them on the goat’s head. He shall send the goat away into the wilderness in the care of someone appointed for the task. 22 The goat will carry on itself all their sins to a remote place; and the man shall release it in the wilderness.”

Receptionist: How do you write women so well?
Melvin Udall: I think of a man, and I take away reason and accountability.


25 posted on 12/20/2012 7:34:48 AM PST by fattigermaster
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Anti-Utopian

“I don’t know why other people aren’t getting married, but I’m not getting married because women are awful.”

I know a young woman in her upper 20’s who has a charming personality, loves children and wants to be a mother someday, preferably a stay at home mother. She works two jobs, one full time and one part time, and is saving her money for her future. She has high morals, is saving herself for her husband, and is conservative in her politics.

However, her prospects for the future she desires are low. She finds most “men” of her age have no desire to settle down in a traditional marriage. All they want from a woman is a free roll in the hay before returning to their video games, televised sports, and bar hopping. They buy expensive cars and are up to their ears in credit card debt and student loans. They have no interest in settling down and raising a family.

Today’s man/boys don’t know how to respect and cherish a moral and loving female. Men who try to bed every woman they meet cannot value chastity when they find it. How does one suddenly shift from having no standards to living the highest standard? How can a virtuous female trust a non virtuous male?

I disagree with your statement that “wives aren’t supposed to be partners.” Marriage is a partnership, a contract before God and society between two people for eternity. It is not a relationship in which the male is the boss and female is the slave. Each member of the marriage contract has responsibilities to each other. In your description of the ideal marriage I have a clear understanding of your definition of the female role but I have zero understanding of what the male role should be in the relationship other than “boss”. If your concept of being “subordinate” means the female is a slave, undeserving of respect or love, I suspect few women will sign up for this type of relationship. The young woman I described above is certainly not seeking to become a slave to a man who has no obligation to her her in the relationship and seeks only to be her master.


26 posted on 12/20/2012 7:42:26 AM PST by Soul of the South
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Soul of the South

Take a look at the movies from that period. They were openly promoting out-of-wedlock pregnancies, the “horrors” of illicit abortions, quickie divorces, all that stuff, long before any of it was legal.


27 posted on 12/20/2012 10:15:25 AM PST by Olog-hai
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: Soul of the South
See what I mean? This woman even went so far as to claim there is a Biblical definition of wife as "partner" (there is none), and then proceeded to describe the actual subordinate wives of the Bible as "slaves." They weren't.

No matter what you say about our terrible government, they haven't censored or banned Bibles yet, nor have they redefined "slavery" in the dictionary. This is pure woman-talk right here, and I've heard it a thousand times. Thanks for the encouragement, but no thanks.

28 posted on 12/20/2012 7:51:07 PM PST by Anti-Utopian ("Come, let's away to prison; We two alone will sing like birds I' th' cage." -King Lear [V,iii,6-8])
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: monocle

Good point.


29 posted on 12/20/2012 7:54:18 PM PST by thecodont
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Anti-Utopian

“women are tyrannical thugs who hate children, and hate their homes.”

When I was a young man, they weren’t. Blame “feminism” (aka women’s lib) for the transformation.


30 posted on 12/20/2012 9:11:09 PM PST by dsc (Any attempt to move a government to the left is a crime against humanity.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Anti-Utopian

“women are tyrannical thugs who hate children, and hate their homes.”

When I was a young man, they weren’t. Blame “feminism” (aka women’s lib) for the transformation.


31 posted on 12/20/2012 9:11:32 PM PST by dsc (Any attempt to move a government to the left is a crime against humanity.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-31 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson