A few short generations ago, it was common knowledge that the ideal family life centered around a (a) working father who provided the financial support, and (b) a nurturing mother who kept the household together and, most importantly, managed the nurturing of the children - which were plentiful. The uncomfortable fact remains that households that maintain that structure still produce the most well-rounded, happiest, and most successful children. No other family structure is its equal, AND there is no other family objective that is more important than this. "We" pay lip service to this fact by mouthing platitudes like, "Our children are the future," and "Children are our most important asset," but in every meaningful way we relegate child nurturing to a task of secondary importance in our culture. Indeed, our female children are indoctrinated (I will not say "taught") to believe that being a "housewife" is equivalent to "being a failure." Kids are taught the same thing in school, with subtle putdowns like, "What does your mommy DO?" As though raising children and running a household were DOING NOTHING. But this is a LIE.
It is also said that, "It is no longer possible to live on a single income." This is something between a lie and a self-fulfilling, self-destructive prophecy. While it's true that we experienced a recession and a rude introduction to the World Economy in the 70's that killed hundreds of thousands of good-paying middle class jobs - mainly manufacturing jobs - and forcing many women into the workplace, the introduction of tens of millions of working moms into the workforce did more to depress wages overall than any other economic development. Maybe that's why there are fewer good, middle-class jobs around for our Dads.
While no one was looking, these second incomes converted scores of nice-to-haves into must-haves, did they not? Do we all need big houses in the suburbs? Does every child need its own bedroom? Do we need several televisions in the house, and all of the electronic bullshit that mesmerizes our children ALL DAY LONG(!)? Do we need to take an opulent vacation every year? Do we really need two or three thirty-thousand-dollar cars in every household (which would not be necessary if Mom did not work)? Do we really need the closets and closets full of clothing and shoes that we eventually donate to charity because the house is simply not big enough to contain them?
What is the expected result of essentially turning over the nurturing of our children to The State? We complain that they are being indoctrinated into a Leftist dream world of bullshit, but isn't that entirely predictable?
Our culture teaches as a matter of faith that "alternative" lifestyles are just as good, if not superior to, the traditional family structure described above, and statistical evidence that denies that propaganda is suppressed. When assessing these alternative households to others, they always compare it to the household where the father is a convict or a drug addict - never to the norm. "Heather has two mommies," sounds almost tolerable, but what if it's Johnnie? Is it OK for him to have two Mommies? What a fucked up existence that would be.
While it is off the radar screen to many Americans (and you will never see this in scripted television), we still have tens of millions of families that continue the traditional paradigm. The dads go to work every day, year after year, and the moms are always there to send the kids off to school every day and be there when they get home, help with their homework, volunteer with the PTA (and the Church), and so on. Some of these families are even working class. Somehow they survive in modest homes, with one car, multiple kids in a single bedroom, and moms who are doing what we all pretend to value as the most import function in our society: nurturing the next generation.
And our culture treats such people - especially the wives/mothers - with disgust. Why is that?
It is also said that, "It is no longer possible to live on a single income." This is something between a lie and a self-fulfilling, self-destructive prophecy. While it's true that we experienced a recession and a rude introduction to the World Economy in the 70's that killed hundreds of thousands of good-paying middle class jobs - mainly manufacturing jobs - and forcing many women into the workplace, the introduction of tens of millions of working moms into the workforce did more to depress wages overall than any other economic development. Maybe that's why there are fewer good, middle-class jobs around for our Dads.
While no one was looking, these second incomes converted scores of nice-to-haves into must-haves, did they not? Do we all need big houses in the suburbs? Does every child need its own bedroom? Do we need several televisions in the house, and all of the electronic bullshit that mesmerizes our children ALL DAY LONG(!)? Do we need to take an opulent vacation every year? Do we really need two or three thirty-thousand-dollar cars in every household (which would not be necessary if Mom did not work)? Do we really need the closets and closets full of clothing and shoes that we eventually donate to charity because the house is simply not big enough to contain them?
What is the expected result of essentially turning over the nurturing of our children to The State? We complain that they are being indoctrinated into a Leftist dream world of bullshit, but isn't that entirely predictable?
Our culture teaches as a matter of faith that "alternative" lifestyles are just as good, if not superior to, the traditional family structure described above, and statistical evidence that denies that propaganda is suppressed. When assessing these alternative households to others, they always compare it to the household where the father is a convict or a drug addict - never to the norm. "Heather has two mommies," sounds almost tolerable, but what if it's Johnnie? Is it OK for him to have two Mommies? What a fucked up existence that would be.
While it is off the radar screen to many Americans (and you will never see this in scripted television), we still have tens of millions of families that continue the traditional paradigm. The dads go to work every day, year after year, and the moms are always there to send the kids off to school every day and be there when they get home, help with their homework, volunteer with the PTA (and the Church), and so on. Some of these families are even working class. Somehow they survive in modest homes, with one car, multiple kids in a single bedroom, and moms who are doing what we all pretend to value as the most import function in our society: nurturing the next generation.
And our culture treats such people - especially the wives/mothers - with disgust. Why is that?
