[madprof98]

Sometimes I wonder if the pendulum is really swinging back toward social conservatism. On one hand, young people today say they place a greater value on marriage and family life than their peers did in the recent past. But their behavior reflects the pernicious effects of the Sexual Revolution that did so much to undermine our familes and make life harder for our children.

The values that lead people to say it's OK to shack up--and to "move on" when the shacking gets tough--don't just disappear when marriage vows are uttered. In my own 25 years of college teaching, I noticed that most of my own students chose cohabitation over marriage, and few of the marriages they eventually did enter have endured. The victims tend to be small and helpless. The trend is getting worse; look how many people here defend it.

[Artist]

"The trend is getting worse; look how many people here defend it."

Absolutely. I've always been amazed at the number of people, here on a conservative forum, that are shacked-up.