Ah, yes marriage!
That crucial ingredient---cornerstone of man and the gods. Will it survive in
this goofy time, when everything is right, and a right; and, almost nothing is
wrong. The good news is that all we Grandpa’s worship traditional marriage and have
wives that feel reasonably serene sitting across the breakfast table from us
each morning.
The bad family news is that each
Grandpa has a child or grandchild, over 25, who need to participate in that
great event known as a wedding. Possibly we should bring all those lacking a
romantic partner to BYU’s Marriott Center, lock them inside, and not let them
leave until they are matched or mated.
Some of the economics of our country,
particularly for the single folk, will even make men like Hercules weep. As we
begin 2014 the Labor Department reports that a stunning 92 million of our
citizens aren’t holding a job---aren’t working.
Let’s talk about marriage and money.
Eric Klinenberg, a sociologist from NYU has written a book featuring research
about decreasing marriage rates in our country, named Going Solo. “About 22 per cent of American adults were single
in 1950; today in 2012 more than 50 per cent of adults are single.” Wow! That
number certainly isn’t true in our community, but it could be accurate
nationwide.
Other
confound statistics indicate that in families headed by two parents in 2012 the
poverty rate was 7.5%,but in families headed by a single mother the rate jumps
to 33.9% Female headed families are growing in our country as a Heritage Foundation
study found that 28.6% of children born
to white mothers were out of wedlock; for Hispanics, 52.5%, and for
African-Americans 73.3%.
Marriage
makes a big difference as the poverty rates among white married couples was
3.2%, while among Anglo non-married families the rate was 22%. Among Black
married families the poverty rate was 7%, while among Black non-marrieds it was
36%.
How
important is a great education in enhancing our grandkids marriage prospects
and financial security? Research by
Charles Murray shows that college educated young people marry at an 84 % rate
while those who are less educated marry at about 48 per cent. University of
Virginia research show that children from intact marriages are far more likely
to attend and graduate from college, earn higher wages than those from broken
homes.
In 1996
President Bill Clinton and Republican Newt Gingrich worked together to legislate the need for those receiving
Welfare Assistance to seek and begin working again. And Welfare rolls declined
by one half within five years. Sadly, the Obama administration has removed most
of these go to work requirements.
Today a
person may receive Unemployment benefits for 47 months, almost a year. And, the
president and congress want to extend these benefits. Amazingly, the Deseret
News, in a January 2, 2014 editorial also urged an extension of these benefits.
Possibly, they were deceived. How do I dare make such a challenge? Let’s look
at what North Carolina has recently done. They dramatically cut the amount of
cash jobless folks receive, and they also reduced the number of weeks that
their citizens could receive these benefits. What happened? The unemployment
rate fell within months. By last November North Carolina’s unemployment was at
a five year low.
In summary,
we family loving folks should emphasize the joys and financial benefits of
family, of being married, teaching our
grandkids to work, and that in our state and nationally, all federal and state
handouts should be as temporary as possible.Our citizens also need to re-kindle
the old-fashioned Puritan work-ethic that made our country great.
