If one needed a short course in the doctrine of Liberalism....here it is:
" Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem."
A Psalm of Life
BYHENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
Here is what is not what it seems: At first glance, the idea of non-judgmentalism, equivalence of every person's personal view of what is right, seems to be a prescription for happiness.
Maybe it is more familiar in this form: "If it feels good, do it."
The diminution of marriage, and the concomitant increase in out of wedlock births, is the result. Experience and data show that following from that,....poverty and crime.
1. " If we care about the poor we ought to care about marriage.
2. In 1980, when the sexual revolution and the expansion of the welfare state had already made inroads into the western family, 78 percent of American families with children still had married parents. By 2012 that figure had declined to 66 percent. .... this particular social change has contributed to hardship among low-income families.
3. .... the growth in median income of families with children would be 44 percent higher if the United States enjoyed 1980 levels of married parenthood today. .... at least 32 percent of the growth in family-income inequality since 1979 among families with children and 37 percent of the decline in men’s employment rates during that time can be linked to the decreasing number of Americans who form and maintain stable, married families.
4. ..... standard portrayals of family hardship arising in the midst of income inequality and joblessness ignore the part that family structure ....changes in family formation and stability are central to the changing economic landscape of American families, to the declining economic status of men, and to worries about the health of the American dream.”
5. ... [It is] poorer and less educated people who have been steadily retreating from marriage over the past three decades and who are suffering most as a result.
6. .... while there’s a moral and cultural argument for that struggle that also needs to be addressed, their argument is based solidly on evidence. And the evidence is that a strong marriage culture would significantly boost the economic fortunes of ordinary people.
7. .... “the evidence is widespread and consistent enough to suggest strong, causal positive roles for being raised in an intact family and for current marriage on a range of important economic outcomes for the average American.” MercatorNet For richer for poorer the difference marriage makes to family fortunes
Life choices have consequences....and, in this case, financial ones.
" Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem."
A Psalm of Life
BYHENRY WADSWORTH LONGFELLOW
Here is what is not what it seems: At first glance, the idea of non-judgmentalism, equivalence of every person's personal view of what is right, seems to be a prescription for happiness.
Maybe it is more familiar in this form: "If it feels good, do it."
The diminution of marriage, and the concomitant increase in out of wedlock births, is the result. Experience and data show that following from that,....poverty and crime.
1. " If we care about the poor we ought to care about marriage.
2. In 1980, when the sexual revolution and the expansion of the welfare state had already made inroads into the western family, 78 percent of American families with children still had married parents. By 2012 that figure had declined to 66 percent. .... this particular social change has contributed to hardship among low-income families.
3. .... the growth in median income of families with children would be 44 percent higher if the United States enjoyed 1980 levels of married parenthood today. .... at least 32 percent of the growth in family-income inequality since 1979 among families with children and 37 percent of the decline in men’s employment rates during that time can be linked to the decreasing number of Americans who form and maintain stable, married families.
4. ..... standard portrayals of family hardship arising in the midst of income inequality and joblessness ignore the part that family structure ....changes in family formation and stability are central to the changing economic landscape of American families, to the declining economic status of men, and to worries about the health of the American dream.”
5. ... [It is] poorer and less educated people who have been steadily retreating from marriage over the past three decades and who are suffering most as a result.
6. .... while there’s a moral and cultural argument for that struggle that also needs to be addressed, their argument is based solidly on evidence. And the evidence is that a strong marriage culture would significantly boost the economic fortunes of ordinary people.
7. .... “the evidence is widespread and consistent enough to suggest strong, causal positive roles for being raised in an intact family and for current marriage on a range of important economic outcomes for the average American.” MercatorNet For richer for poorer the difference marriage makes to family fortunes
Life choices have consequences....and, in this case, financial ones.
