family
Return
to Common Sense
February 19, 2010
Section: Domestic – Family
“Traditional marriage as the central building block prevents
behavioral problems in boys and psychological problems in girls, but single-parent
families are concentrated among blacks and the less educated while hardly
occurring at all among women with a college degree.”
Philosophy (Background, Issues,
Objectives):
Marriage
is the cornerstone of the family, the ideal union of one man and one woman and
the ideal environment for childbearing and childrearing.
- Marriage is deeply rooted in all
societies.
o While the ceremony for religious and
secular marriages differs, the meaning has always been similar.
o Marriage protects and promotes the
wellbeing of children.
- Civil Rights Act of 1963 has
undermined the black family.
o By 2005 out of wedlock birth rates
among blacks increased from 23.6% to nearly 70%.
§
By
2005 out of wedlock birth rates among whites increased from 3.1% to 25.3%.
o Family breakdown then compounded the
problem by condemning children to poverty.
- Partners who cohabit with
intention of marrying share many characteristics of married people.
o Partners who cohabit without the
intention of marrying often have short relationships with few benefits.
o Men and women who cohabit are more
likely to experience partner abuse and infidelity.
o Parenting role of cohabiting partner
is vaguely defined, making unstable living arrangement for children.
o 50% of children born to cohabiting
parents saw their parents part by age 5, compared with
only 15% of children born to married parents.
- In marriages partners often
specialize their skills, enabling accomplishing more as a team.
o Research shows mothers and fathers
spend equal time on work endeavors, including paid and unpaid.
44
states have laws that preserve the traditional definition of marriage.
- 31 states have amended their
constitutions to protect the definition of marriage.
o The first state amendments on
marriage, in
o Constitution amendments make
absolutely clear that the enacting state will not recognize a same-sex marriage
from another state.
- Homosexuals have claimed a
“right” not supported by our Constitution.
o Opposition is demonized as
“discrimination” and “hate.”
o Gay activists do not construe their
"rights" in terms of liberty, but in terms of radical and absolute
equality.
o Gays insist that same-sex
relationships are identical to, entirely analogous to and fungible with,
traditional marriage.
o Children of homosexual couples are
seven times more likely to develop "non-heterosexual preferences"
than other children.
- Life expectancy of gay men is 20
years less than heterosexual men.
Family
is the basic building block of society.
o Marriage has been both the cornerstone
and keystone of civilized societies, while sexual promiscuity has been a
corrosive, destructive force weakening a civilization.
o “Cultures that were more
sexually permissive displayed less cultural energy, creativity, intellectual
development and individualism, and a slower general cultural ascent.”
- Married families have higher
incomes.
o In 2000 government spent more than
$150 billion subsidizing single parent families.
o While marriage may not be a cure for
poverty, it does turn out to be a fairly reliable preventative.
- Married people are more than
twice as likely to be happy as divorced or never married individuals.
o 71% of Americans say growth in births
of unwed mothers is a “big problem.”
o 69% of Americans think a child needs a
home with both a father and a mother.
o 66% of Americans say a single woman
with children is a trend that is bad for society.
o The above three findings are the same
regardless of age, race, and education.
- American birth rate is 2.11
births per woman, right at the replacement level;
- Children in intact families are
less likely to be depressed, difficulty in school, behavior problems.
o Children from homes with fathers are
nine times more likely to graduate.
o 71% of dropouts come from fatherless
homes.
o 92% of children whose families make
more than $75k live with two parents.
o Only 20% of children whose families
make less than $15k live with two parents.
- In 2007 40% of all American
children are born outside marriage.
o Only 7% of children of mothers with
college degrees are born out of wedlock.
o The out-of-wedlock birth rate among
women who drop out of high school is 15%.
o The out-of-wedlock birth rate among
African-American women is 67%.
o Boys who are raised by single mothers
are twice as likely to end up in prison by age 32.
o Girls who are born outside of marriage
are three times as likely to have a teenage pregnancy.
o Teens born outside of marriage are
about twice as likely to drop out of high school.
- Aid to Families with Dependent
Children required father leave to qualify to receive taxpayer benefits.
Child
marriage is defined as marriage carried out below the age of 18.
- Arranged marriages can be made
for toddlers and babies.
- In the developing world child
marriage can occur shortly after puberty.
- Girls living in poor households
are approximately twice as likely to marry before 18.
US
divorce rate more than doubled between 1960 and 2000.
- In 2006 48% of all first
marriages end in divorce.
o Wives precipitate two-thirds to three
quarters of all divorces and separations.
o Divorce rate dropped to 16.5% (first
married 1990-1994) among college graduates.
o Divorce rate has risen to 38% (first married
1990-1994) among high school graduates.
o Divorce rate has risen to 50% among
high school dropouts.
o Many mothers avoid divorce by never
marrying in the first place.
o Unwed childbearing rates (7%) and
divorce rates (10%) for female college graduates are low.
- Female raises 80% of all
household arguments.
- Collapse of marriage is the
principal cause of child poverty in the
- Widespread divorce poisons the
larger culture of marriage (distrust, insecurity, low commitment).
There
has been a backlash in
- Strong pro-family governments
have been elected in
- World Congress of Families has
been convened in 1997, 1999, 2004, and 2006.
- The natural family has been
promoted as the “Springtime of
- In 2004
Experiments
with same-sex marriage in other countries have had disastrous results.
o Scandinavians view parenthood as test
to see if out to get married.
Principles:
The
institution of marriage itself was not created, and thus can not be redefined,
by government.
- Same-sex marriage has a goal to
set aside marriage altogether as a repressive and patriarchichal
anachronism.
- Since American people have
rejected same-sex marriage, the strategy has switched to extending the
Equal Rights Amendment to include marriage “rights”
Marriage
is a specific form of kinship with specific obligations:
·
Marriage
is concerned above all with female sexuality, protecting the child bearing
partner from rape, degradation, and concubinage.
·
Marriage
impose a set of rules that determines not only whom one may marry, but, more
important, whom one may not marry.
·
Marriage
changes the nature of sexual relations between a man and a woman.
·
Marriage
defines the end of childhood, sets a boundary between generations within the
same family and between families, and establishes the rules in any given
society for crossing those boundaries.
Recommendations:
Defend
and strengthen marriage and the family in federal and state law and policies.
- Re-write the Defense of Marriage
Act, defining marriage as the union of one man and one woman.
- Ease economic and other burdens
on families (remove entitlement program disincentives).
- Encourage healthy marriages
through welfare reform and other social service programs.
Embrace
the ‘Culture of Belonging” encouraging the combination of
“work, wedlock, and worship.”
- Defer to parental rights
regarding the education and welfare of minor children.
- Abolish anonymous sperm donation
for biological and paternity reasons.
Compile
a Family Issues Scorecard to grade Congress on pro-family issues.
References:
“Save the Males” by Kathleen Parker
published by Random House Publishing, 2008.
“Research looks at cohabitation’s
negative effects” by William Harms dated March 2, 2000 published by
University of Chicago Chronicle at http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/000302/cohabit.shtml .
“The Marrying Kind: Which Men Marry and Why”
by Barbara Dafoe Whitehead and David Popenoe dated
2004 published by National Marriage Project at http://marriage.rutgers.edu/Publications/SOOU/TEXTSOOU2004.htm .
“Federal incentives exist to make children
fatherless” by Phyllis Schlafly dated
“Poverty and the Father Factor” by
William Raspberry dated
“Marriage Movement at the Crossroads”
by Carey Roberts dated
“Marriage and the Public Good: Ten Principles”
dated May 2006 published by Witherspoon Institute at http://www.mirrorofjustice.com/mirrorofjustice/2006/06/marriage_and_th.html .
“The
Federal Marriage Amendment: Anti-democratic” by Dale Carpenter dated
“For the Children” by Michael J. New dated
“Creating a culture of belonging”
by Rebecca Hagelin dated
“Going Beyond Same-Sex Marriage” by
Mark Tooley dated August 15, 2006 published by The
American Spectator at http://www.spectator.org/dsp_article.asp?art_id=10223 .
“Five non-religious arguments for marriage
over living together” by Dennis Prager
dated
“Friends
with Benefits? By
William C.
“Election 2006: What It Means to the
Traditional Family” by Rob Hood dated
“A
“Avoidance Strategy” by Stanley
Kurtz dated
“The Confession” by Stanley Kurtz
dated
“The Confession II” by Stanley Kurtz
dated
“Homosexuality and Pedophilia” by
Cliff Kincaid dated
“Mommy or Daddy?” by Ruben Navarrette Jr. dated
“Another homosexual activist cuts bisexuals
out of wedding march” by Janet M. LaRue
dated
“To Wed or Cohabit?”
dated
“The Homosexual Assault on Traditional
Marriage” by Ben Shapiro dated
“A Secret Plan to Make Same Sex Marriage
Legal in America” by David W. New dated
“Marriage and the Terror War, Part II”
by Stanley Kurtz dated
“The life-script schism” by Cheryl Wetzstein dated
“The child bride: Assaulting the innocent”
by Janice Shaw Crouse dated
“Thawing
out from a ‘demographic winter’” by Rebecca Hagelin dated
“Woozles in the Name of Protecting Women”
by Carey Roberts dated
“The Future of Marriage” by Maggie
Gallagher dated
“The World Congress of Families” by
Allan C. Carlson dated
“A Father’s Presence – A Far
Greater Predictor of Graduation Than Race or Class” by Rinaldo Del Gallo III dated
“Marriage and Caste in
“The 10 Commandments for Husbands”
by Doug Giles dated
“The Incredible Shrinking Father”
by Kay S. Hymowitz dated
“A Lesson for the Left about Medicine, Money,
and Motherhood” by Laura Hollis dated
“The frayed knot” dated
“Proof, Once Again, that Homosexuality is
Forgivable” by Rob Hood dated
“What do Americans think about
marriage?” by Maggie Gallagher dated
“’Gays’ Don’t Want
‘Marriage’ After All” by Matt Barber dated
“The ‘New Victorians’”
by Suzanne Fields dated
“Married Today, Gone Tomorrow” by
Janice Shaw Crouse dated
“Love and Marriage… Discrimination”
by James M. Thunder dated
“How Firm a Foundation?” by Ken
Connor dated
“A Family Issues Scorecard – A Useful
Innovation” by Paul Weyrich dated
“The Incontrovertible Facts About Fathers”
by Janice Shaw Crouse dated
“Family Ties” by
“Gay Marriage: Even Liberals Know It’s
Bad” by Frank Turek dated
“Protecting marriage to protect children”
by David Blankenhorn dated
“Marriage Moves Voters” by William
C. Duncan dated
“Gay Rights, Gay Rage” by Robert
Stacy McCain dated
“The State and Same-Sex Marriage”
by Robert Klein Engler dated
“Girls Need a Dad and Boys Need a Mom”
by Janice Shaw Crouse dated January 3, 2009 published by American Thinker at http://www.americanthinker.com/2009/01/girls_need_a_dad_and_boys_need.html .
“Reducing Poverty by Revitalizing Marriage in
Low-Income Communities” by Robert Rector dated January 13, 2009
published by The Heritage Foundation at http://www.heritage.org/Research/Family/sr45.cfm .
“Defending Marriage” by Thomas M. Messner and Jennifer A. Marshall dated January 13, 2009
published by The Heritage Foundation at http://www.heritage.org/Research/Family/sr46.cfm .
“Preserving Marriage in Substance, Not Just
Name” by Ryan T. Anderson dated March 11, 2009 published by National
Review Online at http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=NTM2YmQ3ZDZlNmYzMWNhYzE0MmE1OWVhMmM5ODUzOGI= .
“The Real Pregnancy Crisis” by W.
Bradford Wilcox dated May 22, 2009 published by The Wall Street Journal at http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124294779002345281.html .
“The Worst Thing About Gay Marriage”
by Sam Schulman dated June 1, 2009 published by The Weekly Standard at http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/016/533narty.asp .
“Homosexuals kids more likely to be
what?” by Bob Unruh dated June 8, 2009 published by World Net Daily
at http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=100593 .
“Maine Voters Reject Same-Sex Marriage Law”
by Glenn Adams and David Crary dated November 4, 2009
published by Cybercast News Service at http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/56583 .
“The Failed Case for…” by
Jack Kerwick dated February 19, 2010 published by
Intellectual Conservative at http://www.intellectualconservative.com/2010/02/19/the-failed-case-for-gay-marriage/
.
