We are dealing in a realm of human behavior where the positive effects of public policy look to be quite limited. What will be required is a substantial shift in social mores–in how we view the institution and purposes of marriage, the duties of parenthood, our commitments to one another, and even human fulfillment itself–and there’s little evidence that is about to occur anytime soon.In 2000, Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan was asked to identify the biggest change he had seen in his 40-year political career. Moynihan responded, “The biggest change, in my judgment, is that the family structure has come apart all over the North Atlantic world.” This change has occurred in “an historical instant,” Moynihan said. “Something that was not imaginable 40 years ago has happened.”Indeed it has. (The trends that concerned Moynihan have, in fact, accelerated.) The historian Lawrence Stone said the scale of marital breakdown in the West since 1960 has no historical precedent. It is unique. And as a civilization we seem unable, or at least unwilling, to do much of anything about it.
Most of the social ills you see around you, from the discarded Polar Pop cup on the sidewalk to the meth lab on the outskirts of town, are intricately bound up with this core phenomenon.
Culture precedes politics. There's not an official policy in the world that can heal this spirit-level decay.
But many many families in America still do stay together and help each other on unto death. Are going to try to divide them into freedom lovers and haters in your zeitgeist? We can draw a lesson from our eastern friends and even our Mexican illegals here in this regard. If our American families dissolve, they will take our place in the new world order. If the black American families continue to dissolve at a disarming rate, and who you might term a Freedom Hater in your zeitgeist, Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynahan essentially called out the alarum back during the LBJ administration, they will continue remain where they are which is largely nowhere in the world economy. Who brought them here but freedom loving exceptional Americans of their exceptional day? Sailing to nowhere with a ton of bricks...
ReplyDeleteInteresting stat here though: In 1960 12% of Americans felt that alcohol had caused trouble in their family in 1960. 30% blame alcohol for familial problems today.
ReplyDeleteRead more: http://www.businessinsider.com/how-the-average-american-has-changed-since-the-1960s-2012-7?op=1#ixzz2ytInzluT
Another sign of our decline.
ReplyDeleteand of course you and your ilk are flawless and blameless, right; if not you will lead the charge to our collective knees, not in obesience, but heartfelt prayer to the One True God of the Universe, right?
ReplyDeleteAm I on record as saying anyone is flawless? In fact, the conservative view of government is based on the fallen nature of the human being.
ReplyDeleteOh that fallen nature,I guess that's why, if you can believe the stats, our exceptional country has more of its citizens jailed per capita than any other country on the globe. Maybe we just happen to have more fallen that get caught here, I dunno, you can't tell me, you got all the gripes but none of the answers except to straighten-up and fly right, according to your ilk's radar which is tuned to the one true God.
ReplyDeleteHere is our answer:
ReplyDelete1.) free-market economics
2.) a foreign policy based on what history tells us about the human nature and the behavior of nation-states
3.) an understanding that the Judeo-Christian and Greco-Roman foundations of Western civilization are what make it a unique blessing to humankind.
1) Agreed
ReplyDelete2) Disagree. A foreign policy based on what we've learned from history about war, else we're condemned to repeat it.
3) Tolerance of all beliefs, have we not learned yet in this shrinking globe?