The Decay of the Traditional American Family

An exhaustive study on the collapse of American families highlights too many inconvenient truths to gain traction in the mainstream media. The findings are anathema to the prevailing liberal doctrine. The nation's cancel culture rejects any facts that do not fit their narrative of victimhood.  

The report by the Joint Economic Committee of Congress, released July 23, is entitled "The Demise of the Happy Two Parent Home."   Is it any wonder the media ignores the research?  Recall vanquished presidential candidate Hillary Clinton once lectured Americans that it takes a village to raise a child.

The highlights of the research likely will surprise few Americans paying attention to the erosion of traditional values in our society. Here are a few statistics from the sweeping study:

• The percentage of births to unmarried women spiked from 5% in 1960 to 40% in 2018. 

• Fifty years ago, 85% of children lived with two parents.  In 2019, the number plunged to 70% of kids residing with two parents.

• In the 1960's, less than one percent of couples living together were unmarried. By 2019 the figure stood at 12-to-13%. 

• Marriage is not as common as in previous decades. The percentage of women between the ages 15-44 who are married has nosedived from 71% in 1962 to 42% in 2019.            

Although the Joint Economic Committee published the statistics in its report, the data was extracted from studies by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the National Center for Health Statistics and National Vital Statistic Reports.  What matters is what the stats reveal about inequality.

More than two-thirds of the births to African-American women are to unwed mothers. About 73% of births to all black woman involved non-martial conceptions.  As a consequence, six in ten black children are apart from at least one parent during their growing up years. 

While marriage has declined for all Americans, fewer African-Americans are entering into marriage. According to the report, less than one-quarter (24%) of African-American women between the ages of 15 and 44 were married in 2019.

Statistics reveal the overwhelming majority of these African-American females are what the study terms "low-education" principals. In socio-economic terms, it means that a disproportionate number of children of color are born into circumstances that hinder their ability to equally participate in the economy.

While income inequality has become a focus of policymakers, few dare to point out how the deterioration of the two-parent family among African-American households is directly correlated to their offspring's opportunities. Instead, they are more likely to dredge up "systemic racism" as the bogeyman.  

Princeton University sociologist Sara McLanahan took stock of the data and observed: "If we were asked to design a system for making sure that children's basic needs were met, we would probably come up with something quite similar to the two-parent ideal." 

As the study concludes the "inequality in family stability" not only is a contributing factor but also compounds economic inequality.  A plethora of data exists in the public domain documenting that children with two married parents are far less likely to live in poverty than those kids with a single parent.

As a matter of fact, research has established that children raised by married parents do better on a wide array of outcomes.  They are less likely to experience physical, emotional or sexual abuse.  They enjoy better health, achieve higher education levels and earn more as a adults.

This experience applies to both non-white and Caucasians alike.  As the research points out, about 10% of all American children lived with a divorced single parent and close to 15% resided with a never-married parent in 2019.  As highlighted above, the data is much higher for African-Americans.

Another factor eroding family stability is the increase in Americans who have children with multiple partners, complicating relationships among adults and siblings.  Nearly 16% of parents have children with more than one partner.  In 20% of those martial situations, one individual has had more than one partner. 

Brookings Institution scholar Ron Haskins provides a politically incorrect solution. He cites research that shows American adults who finish high school; get a full-time job; and wait until at least age 21 to get married and have children; hold a 75% chance of being a middle-class earner.  Only 2% will be poor.

Government solutions to assist households with children headed by unwed mothers or single moms have failed miserably.  The more than 80 public assistance programs at the state and federal level combined are actually exacerbating the problem.

These public anti-poverty programs have discouraged marriage among those receiving benefits and incentivized single mothers to produce more children out of wedlock to increase government payments. Most of the programs penalize marriage by reducing welfare benefits as household income increases.

In the Joint Economic Committee Report, government statistics document the value of the safety net for single-mother families is 133% higher today than in 1940 and 56% higher than the level in 1960. Of course, inflation accounts for some of the hike. But the sheer number of programs has exploded.  

These federal and state programs are creating a permanent underclass by perpetuating the cycle of having children out of wedlock.  Many reports have documented this consequence but there is virtually no recognition by governments at any level to align assistance with promoting family stability.

What appears clear is the collapse of marriage and family are a reflection of the changing values in American culture.  In 2002, a Gallup Poll uncovered that 45% of American agreed having a baby outside of marriage was morally acceptable.  In 2019, the figure had zoomed to 64% of respondents.

Nobel-Prize winning University of Chicago economist James Heckman has pinpointed the issue that undermines government solutions.  He cites as one of the chief obstacles an "honest engagement" on the changes in the American family that are driving family disruption.  

"The family is the source of life and growth," Heckman says. "Families build values, encourage (or discourage) their children in school and out.  Families--far more than schools--create or inhibit life opportunities."

In the Woke era, it is racist to blame the demise of the family for income inequality and racial inequity, especially among African-Americans.  The Woke crowd prefers to demand dialogue about systemic racism.  But, if they want to solve the problem, then they need look no further than family instability. 

Facts should matter in this debate.  However, feelings and political correctness have been deemed more relevant by politicians and policy makers.  The result will continue to be solutions that don't address the the moral and social issue of the deterioration of the two-parent family.    

Minority Rule: The Defeat of Traditional Marriage

Traditional marriage no longer exists exclusively as a union between one man and one woman in this nation.  Once a hallmark of American life, the religious doctrine of marriage has been swept aside by courts in defiance of the expressed will of the majority.

The destruction of the marriage dogma didn't happen overnight. It was waged initially by a tiny minority.  (The largest federally funded study in history conducted last year found 2.3 percent of adults self-identified as gays, lesbians or bisexual.)  But this group enlisted some heavy hitters.

Big Media, Big Business and Anti-Religious zealots linked hands with those same-sex couples who wanted the right to marry. This cabal bullied those who opposed their agenda, labeling them bigots, homophobes and intolerant. Firms that stood for traditional marriage were boycotted and smeared.  

Despite the mushrooming protests, voters in 31 states overwhelmingly approved constitutional amendments supporting traditional marriage during a turbulent decade. There was not a single defeat until 2012, when Maryland and Maine voters approved same-sex marriage.

After early ballot defeats, the gay alliance decided to switch tactics and use the courts to frustrate the majority.  Courts obliged, overturning traditional marriage laws in 26 states, paving the way for same-sex marriage.  Pro-marriage laws remaining in eight states are now under legal challenge.

In the midst of the judicial struggle, the Supreme Court weighed in on the issue in 2013.  The justices struck down a key provision of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), declaring that gay couples married in states where it was legal could receive federal health, tax and other benefits.

DOMA, signed by President Clinton in 1996, defined a legal union between one man and one woman.  It passed in the House 342-67 and was approved in the Senate by an 85-14 margin.  Today the same-sex crowd likes to rewrite history, claiming DOMA was the handiwork of sex-obsessed Republicans.

In 2008, even President Obama declared that he was "not in favor of gay marriage."  He maintained that stance until the 2012 presidential election, when he flip flopped and announced that he thought it was a good idea that "same sex couples should be able to get married."

Taking their cue from Obama, the Democrat Party weaponized same-sex marriage.  It became a campaign punchline for slandering Republicans for not being inclusive and haranguing Christians and Jews for clinging to judgmental ideas about marriage.  The nastiness was pervasive.

Insult and intimidation carried the argument over those who wanted to maintain the historic meaning of marriage.  Most supporters of traditional marriage held no animosity toward same-sex couples.  In fact, many were willing to allow civil unions between same sex adults.  But compromise was a dirty word.

To solidify their position, same-sex marriage proponents co-opted the media into blind loyalty to their agenda.  Pew Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism scrutinized nearly 500 news stories on same-sex marriage in 2013 and found statements supporting LGBT's position outweighed traditional marriage arguments by a margin of five to one.

The entertainment industry never made any bones about its support. Movies, music and television celebrated the so-called diversity of lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgender adults with fare that flatteringly portrayed their sexual orientation and pitched the moral argument for gay marriage.

The weight of the propaganda has shifted public opinion.  Recent polling shows that a majority of Americans now support same sex marriage.  The changing tide raises the question of whether churches may be coerced into performing same-sex marriages in violation of their religious beliefs.

Eric Johnston, president of the Southeast Law Institute and a legal adviser to churches, thinks it is inevitable there will be legal challenges.  "There will be a lot of lawsuits over whether ministers have to do it," he predicts.  The result will be a clash between personal and religious freedoms.

The federal government likely would side with plaintiffs who lodge suits against churches.  More than religious freedom would be at stake.  The government decides if churches qualify for tax-exempt status.  The outcome of a case could potentially mean religious groups would be forced to pay taxes.

With the stakes so high, it helps explain the vociferous reaction from the LGBT community over recently approved religious freedom laws. They are clearly worried these statutes will be used to justify allowing churches and synagogues to reject same-sex marriages on religious grounds.

Thus the stage has been set for the next battleground in the cultural and social war.  If history is any guide, the opinions of a few people in judicial robes will be the only ones that matter.  Most Americans and their elected representatives will be relegated to footnotes in this epic struggle.

If traditional marriage, a bedrock of American life, can be changed forever, then every social and cultural norm faces the same fate.  The problem is whatever the majority wants no longer carries the same weight it once did.  Minority rule by those with shrill voices has become the new normal.