“The decline of marriage is our most ignored national crisis.”— Rich Lowry, Editor of National Review
In a recent Time magazine article, Rich writes, Marriage is increasingly the exclusive province of college educated Americans.
Or to put it in Occupy terms, the top 30%.
Today out-of-wedlock births account for 73% of births among blacks, 53% among Latinos and 29% among whites in America.
Children in two-parent families, University of Virginia sociologist Bradford Wilcox notes, are more likely “to graduate from high school, finish college, become gainfully employed and enjoy a stable family life themselves.
Clearly is is the erosion of the cultural norm against out-of- wedlock childbearing that chiefly drives illegitimacy.
But economics play a role. It is harder for working-class men to get good jobs, making them marginally less marriageable. It is easier, on the other hand, for working-class women to get employment, making them marginally less dependent on men.
Marriage is a means of getting and staying out of poverty rather than an economic capstone. The poverty rate for single- parent families is six times that of married families.
THE NEW MARRIAGE BOOM
Fully 15% of all new marriages in the U.S. in 2010 were between partners of different races or ethnicities, says a Pew Research Center report, nearly twice the rate of 30 years earlier.
The most common match ups were white and Hispanic (43%), followed by white and Asian (14.4%) and white and black (11.9%).
So on those days when you are frustrated by your marriage, keep in mind that you are setting a example, with every action you take, for your country and the legions of kids growing up around you.
Marriage can be the ultimate relationship, full of love, support, respect and accomplishment.
It’s a good day to be mindful that you have not only your own life to consider, but our national heritage.
Go kiss your spouse if you are lucky enough to have one.
I Do.
With Love,
Susan Bratton