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A 2012 Father's Day Message of Encouragement and Warning : "The Single-Mom Catastrophe"
The Manhattan Institute and City Journal ^ | 2012-06-03 | Kay S. Hymowitz

Posted on 06/16/2012 7:39:47 PM PDT by Patton@Bastogne

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Kay S. Hymowitz,
Manhattan Institute (William E. Simon Fellow)
City Journal (contributing editor).


Ms. Hymowitz,


Thank you for your article entitled “A Disaster for Women: The Single-Mom Revolution” that I had the pleasure to read in the Tampa Bay Times (formerly the St. Pete Times).

It was refreshing to see such “truth” printed in this typically far-left propaganda sheet, whose editors travel far-and-away to deliberately offend and mock the moral sensibilities of parents attempting to successfully raise emotionally, physically and spiritually healthy children in this “post-modern age” of media-encouraged averice, greed, immorality, and selfishness.

Our contemporary “post-modern” culture demands that “men” be stupidly adorned with (frankly) ridiculous tatoos expressing themes of insanity, blasphemy against Christ, and ruthless violence, engage in meaningless sexual relationships, express cruelty to animals and people alike, never acknowledge their mistakes, never take responsibility and seek healing and redemption for their addictions, addictions which often strangle the very life and love from the Families that Christ has entrusted them to Shepard.



My son in law (Sebastian) is particularly on my mind as I write this letter to you.

The Lord has used him to be a great blessing in the lives of my daughter (Angela) and my two granddaughters (Isabella and Lily).

Sebastian weekly engages in the “heavy lifting” of caring, protecting and encouraging.

Sebastian is the kind of man that would gone ashore at WWII’s Omaha Beach or a Scott Beamer whose words “Let’s Roll” expressed a Shakespearean defiance against those who would threaten their wives and children.



And, indeed, my own failures as a divorced father, and the psychological wounds caused my four (4) dear children because of divorce and selfishness, is also on my mind as I write this letter to you.



Your expressed “truth” encourages the essential Accountability and Encouragement for today’s fathers and mothers, husbands and wives, and to those in the future, a great and timely message for this Father’s Day 2012.



.

1 posted on 06/16/2012 7:40:02 PM PDT by Patton@Bastogne
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To: greyfoxx39; VinL; Windflier; Colonel_Flagg; icwhatudo; KevinDavis; maine-iac7; VeniVidiVici; ...
.


Wishing a Happy Father's Day to all those at Free Republic who do the weekly "heavy lifting" of striving as Christ commands them ...

to love, honor, encourage, protect, teach, and nuture ...

their Spouses and Children ...



"Strength and Honor" ... to You ...



.

2 posted on 06/16/2012 7:46:40 PM PDT by Patton@Bastogne (Newt Gingrich and Sarah Palin will DEFEAT the Obama-Romney Socialist Gay-Marriage Axis of Evil)
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To: Patton@Bastogne

Happy Father’s Day to you!

....and to all the Dads, Granddads and those who have Dads or have
had Dads that have passed this life.


3 posted on 06/16/2012 7:53:18 PM PDT by luvie (Never forget...WE have THEM surrounded! ~ Rush Limbaugh)
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To: Patton@Bastogne

I had hoped that this type of big government conservatism nonsense had been beaten down with the removal of Dubya. Here we go again.

Yes single moms aren’t ideal and often are a drain on the economy & society IF repeat IF the woman only has high school degree or less. A factoid that the author of this piece leaves out is that single women with a BA or higher have the educational background to provide a middle class lifestyle for their kid(s) which does not necessitate the use of government bennies.

The unspoken reason that the “compassionate conservative” buffoon leaves that out is to trumpet and demand a big government solution - alter Federal policy to increase marriage levels. Once again, big government does not work! Leave me and my family alone. Keep your hands off of my firearms and my pocket book.


4 posted on 06/16/2012 8:03:58 PM PDT by KantianBurke (Where was the Tea Party when Dubya was spending like a drunken sailor?)
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To: Patton@Bastogne

Patron, thank you so much and Happy Fathers Day to you also.


5 posted on 06/16/2012 8:17:49 PM PDT by fatnotlazy
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To: Patton@Bastogne
The reasons for the shift were many, including the sexual revolution, a powerful strain of anti-marriage feminism and a "super bug" of American individualism that hit the country in the 1960s and ’70s.

I can't be too impressed with an article that leaves out the number one reason for the huge increase in single motherhood beginning in the '60s: government implemented welfare programs that paid women to have children out-of-wedlock and did little to require biological father's to assume any responsibility at all.

And the benefits paid to out-of-wedlock mothers has only increased over the years, and are worth more than most of the single mothers could earn in the job market. An all round disaster and major reason for our nation's fiscal and budget problems.

6 posted on 06/16/2012 8:23:46 PM PDT by Will88
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To: KantianBurke
I agree with you that government, big or small, does not work and should leave families alone. But I disagree that the BA-educated single mother is not a drag on society. She may indeed be able to earn a decent living and support her fatherless children, but statistics are clear that she doesn't have the right equipment to be a father to her children. She can model ideal female behavior, but she cannot show children what a male is supposed to be like.

Kids who grow up without a father in the house--even if the father lives nearby and is "involved" in the kids' lives--have far more problems than kids whose fathers are on deck, at home. Even middle-income, middle-class single mothers have children with far more emotional problems, learning disabilities, contact with the juvenile court system, early sex, and pregnancy. Those things all cost the taxpayer money and are destructive to society in the long run.

I write this not to condemn single mothers, since I'm (sadly) a divorced mother myself. I'm only pointing out that earning money to support a family is a full-time job and taking care of a family physically is also a full-time job; few people can manage to do two full-time jobs without help and not make mistakes or become exhausted.

7 posted on 06/16/2012 8:42:23 PM PDT by ottbmare (The OTTB Mare)
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To: Patton@Bastogne

Thank you.

And, Happy Father’s Day to you and to all the men who understand and appreciate the honor, the rewards and the responsibilities that we share as fathers. Nothing else we do is more important.

I thank God for the strength, the guidance and the blessings that I have received through simple faith.


8 posted on 06/16/2012 8:55:48 PM PDT by Tau Food (Tom Hoefling for President - 2012)
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To: ottbmare

“she doesn’t have the right equipment to be a father to her children.”

Says you. And again my point stands - whine all you want about the single motherhood issue. KEEP YOUR BIG GOVERNMENT FANTASIES TO YOURSELF! They do NOT work as made evident during Dubya’s time in office. Leave me, my family, my guns and my pocket book alone.


9 posted on 06/16/2012 8:56:15 PM PDT by KantianBurke (Where was the Tea Party when Dubya was spending like a drunken sailor?)
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To: KantianBurke
“she doesn’t have the right equipment to be a father to her children.”

Says you.

Yes, says me. If she does have the right equipment, she's had a sex-change operation or she's a tranny. Women are not men and can't be fathers, hard as some might want to be. Women and men interact with their children very differently, and men have different things to teach children than women do. Saying otherwise devalues men and fathers. If women have the right equipment to be fathers, then the feminists are right and we really don't need men, except as sperm donors.

And again my point stands - whine all you want about the single motherhood issue. KEEP YOUR BIG GOVERNMENT FANTASIES TO YOURSELF! They do NOT work as made evident during Dubya’s time in office. Leave me, my family, my guns and my pocket book alone.

My goodness, rather hot-tempered, aren't you? I specifically pointed out that I AGREE about big government staying out of family life, and I don't have big-government fantasies, but you're still on about it.

10 posted on 06/16/2012 9:24:10 PM PDT by ottbmare (The OTTB Mare)
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To: Patton@Bastogne

Another achievement for Obama’s America: A nation of bastards. Yay.


11 posted on 06/16/2012 9:24:10 PM PDT by Trod Upon (Obama: Making the Carter malaise look good. Misery Index in 3...2...1)
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To: Patton@Bastogne

“Big government,” that is, socialism with excessive government spending, was required to support the divorce/cohabitation paradigm against potential domestic competition (the real, technically inclined producers).

And the divorce/cohabitation trend was born in force long before Obama was in office. It’s been a bipartisan, socialist effort by the political/regulator class. Have fun. Enjoy the consequences. They’re right in front of us. We’re not quite there, yet.


12 posted on 06/16/2012 9:42:46 PM PDT by familyop ("Wanna cigarette? You're never too young to start." --Deacon, "Waterworld")
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To: Patton@Bastogne

Kay wrote a great piece, BTW. I remember replying to her in Commentary Magazine long ago (little polite argument back then).


13 posted on 06/16/2012 9:46:32 PM PDT by familyop ("Wanna cigarette? You're never too young to start." --Deacon, "Waterworld")
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To: Patton@Bastogne
That was mighty nice of you! I hope you have a great Father's Day as well.

Remember, Celebrate and Give Thanks...

14 posted on 06/16/2012 10:06:39 PM PDT by Errant
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To: ottbmare

I disagree with your statement that a single (intentional) mother can model ideal female behavior-—wrong. She is modeling selfish, immature behavior.

The reason both men and women are needed as parent role models is for the intimate observation that family life offers—a look into the interaction between male and females where children can figure out the differences and similarities of the TWO sexes-—what is a good male—what is a good female? They need to learn what is normal and not—they need Virtue modeled so they will become Virtuous.

Girls who do not have a loving father figure will be promiscuous and always searching for males to give her that nurture and love that wasn’t there when she was young. It doesn’t matter that she had a lone female to model herself after. Children need a loving mother and a loving father to learn how to live a full and meaningful life.

This is necessary for basic long term future mature relationship with the opposite sex. Their young world has to have healthy male and female role models so they can deal with all human beings and be comfortable with both sexes. It is the ideal.


15 posted on 06/16/2012 10:28:09 PM PDT by savagesusie (Right Reason According to Nature = Just Law)
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To: savagesusie
I disagree with your statement that a single (intentional) mother can model ideal female behavior-—wrong. She is modeling selfish, immature behavior.

I was not referring to the women who deliberately get themselves pregnant, but to the women who are forced to raise their kids alone--the widows and unwilling divorcees. Many a man (like Abraham Lincoln) will speak or write with reverence about the noble spirit of his lonely mother. My point was that no matter how wonderful a mother is, she can't be a father.

16 posted on 06/16/2012 10:54:36 PM PDT by ottbmare (The OTTB Mare)
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To: savagesusie
She is modeling selfish, immature behavior.

In a divorce, both parents are selfish. Divorce is a trainwreck for the kids.

And for Father's Day, a bit of wisdom:

"The greatest thing a father can do for his kids is to love their mother."

17 posted on 06/16/2012 11:00:36 PM PDT by Semper911 (When you want to rob Peter to pay Paul, you'll always have the support of Paul.)
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To: Semper911

I agree.

The greatest thing a father can do is demonstrate his love and respect for their mother. It creates the perfect home for children because it teaches children to love and it makes the mother a very happy one.

Happiness-—Dennis Prager talks alot about the importance of happiness.


18 posted on 06/17/2012 1:13:08 AM PDT by savagesusie (Right Reason According to Nature = Just Law)
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To: ottbmare

I agree. But Tom Lincoln spent quite a bit of time with Abe. His mother and stepmother were wonderful.


19 posted on 06/17/2012 1:20:06 AM PDT by savagesusie (Right Reason According to Nature = Just Law)
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To: ottbmare

“Women are not men and can’t be fathers, hard as some might want to be.”

This has applicability only for those who have a high school diploma or less. Big government for Jesus GOPers refuse to make that distinction which leads to their mastabatory fantasies of Dubya-esque nanny state programs. By refusing to make that distinction you’re part of the problem.


20 posted on 06/17/2012 7:27:40 AM PDT by KantianBurke (Where was the Tea Party when Dubya was spending like a drunken sailor?)
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