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The end of middle America? Working class white families are unraveling before our eyes
NY Daily News ^ | December 19th 2010 | Kay Hymowitz

Posted on 12/27/2010 2:33:51 PM PST by neverdem

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To: Red6

This has happened before. Rome fell because the Romans stopped making babies. Even after Christianity became the state religion.


61 posted on 12/28/2010 5:42:59 AM PST by redgolum ("God is dead" -- Nietzsche. "Nietzsche is dead" -- God.)
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To: Khankrumthebulgar
Marriage is a joke, like a Rent contract.

yes, marriage today is a conditional interim contract. Anyone going into marriage in these times has to go into it preparing for divorce. That is the sad reality in which we live.

Going into a marriage today with no plan or preparation for divorce is just foolish. Just ask Paul McCarthy.

62 posted on 12/28/2010 7:21:34 AM PST by 240B (he is doing everything he said he wouldn't and not doing what he said he would)
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To: 240B

Clarification: Paul McCartney

His wife was awarded $50,000,000 in the divorce after less than 6yrs of marriage.

Granted this is in England and he is a celebrity, but this gives an idea of how divorce works on all levels both there and in America.


63 posted on 12/28/2010 8:13:30 AM PST by 240B (he is doing everything he said he wouldn't and not doing what he said he would)
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To: Cronos
I cleaned it up a bit- I wrote this last night late and on one of those goofy I-pads.

As crazy as it sounds, one of the main reasons the Big Euro countries like France and Germany have not imploded is because of mass immigration.

Their population is in reality level because of the influx of North African, Indian, middle eastern, Italian years past, Slavic and Turkish people. It's not rocket science, you ain't maintaining or growing when the average German woman has 1.38 kids.

http: //www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1991216,00.html

Western society has destroyed the foundation of any society, the family.
The four basic parts of its destruction.

Standards
There is no requirement or even expectation of marriage when people live together and have kids. Employers don't frown on it. There is no peer pressure to marry a girl that a guy got pregnant. The negative stigma of divorce is all but gone. Parents aren’t really concerned about how they will be perceived by others and their parents (If they are baby-boomers they might be divorced themselves) aren’t really guiding them either. We live in a permissive society that is morally relativistic and in fact has supplanted the idea of morals with ethics, the teaching of right and wrong in the absence of God. While not technically defined as such, that is the true nuance meaning of ethics as instructed in academia, government and business. Because people have largely lost their moral compass, even a scriptural/religious significance to what a marriage is and the significance of children therein has been lost. Few think of their marriage as something holly. There are absolutely no social norms and standards when it comes to human behavior and in fact even churches (For example parts of the Lutheran church) are caving in to what amounts to condoning this permissive “behavior.”

Benefits
Gays and others can essentially have all the benefits a married couple has. A marriage brings with it little in terms of what that means and a doctor, school, etc will not share information with a married spouse. If you want any semblance of being “one” in a marriage you need to have a general power of attorney and inform every doctors office, school, employer, federal, state and local government that you have the privilege to access information or make decisions on behalf of your spouse. The lawyer and our legislature have essentially defined what marriage is. Kids cost a lot of money and the tax code makes up for on average less than 1/4 of the true costs of having a child for a middle class family. If you choose to have kids, you will pay dearly in economic terms. Yet those that choose to be childless will still get fed, medically treated and transported around in their old age despite partying it up in their youth. In essence, programs like Medicare, Social Security etc have devalued children because it was your kids that sustain you in old age even just 70 years (Two generations) ago. Today those that have kids will pay for them, but their kids will end up working and paying for those that choose to be dual income and childless. Having a child means you can't be a serial polygamist, couple that swings, hang out in bars, you're “lifestyle” will get cramped by this little guy. You can in all reality already today reap ALL the benefits of married life (if is intended to nurture a family with children) without having kids or even marrying. I can put someone on my life and health insurance, I can have them get part of my retirement, I can have them inherit what I own……. There is essentially nothing special in marriage anymore.

(An “artifact” of the past) http://www.southfloridagaynews.com/news/sfgnow/133- national/1913-walker-same-sex-marriage-ban-is-an-artifact-of-the- past.html

The culture of death
Divorce is fairly easy and cheep if you shop around. Those that choose to have kids wait until old and are often in shock when they find out they are infertile or have an increased risk of genetic issues with the baby. Abortion is readily available, so is birth control and sterilization which insurance will pay for. Abortion gets federal money even though some say this isn’t true because it’s funneled to them by proxy in funding for “community health programs.” Abortion is a huge industry in this nation, over 50 million since R vs. W. Think about it, from an insurance perspective if you get sterilized you cost them a lot less money than if you have kids. Fertility treatments of course are generally not covered by this insurance (which will pay for gender reassignment in many cases BTW – there is also a tax write off for that), and of course a change in mind after being sterilized is a cost you will carry as well. Just like someone’s word means little today, so does the idea of marriage and the oath that two people take when getting married. Lawyers are in the business of tearing families apart, not building them and they are financially incentivized to make a couple fight, which means more time and more revenue (ethics are meaningless in reality). What about so called TV talk shows where they discuss “who the father is” like the Povich show, what do they make their living off of?

Image
Married life is portrayed as dull, husbands dead beats, and stay at home moms stupid in near all Television shows. It's nearly considered irresponsible to have a large family. Woman see childbirth as a horrible and negative thing because they are fat, it inconveniences them and interferes with their career as well. They can’t fit into their size 0 dress when they are pregnant after all. Children are to some an ecological liability! There is nothing cool, nothing sexy, special or holly about being pregnant, a mother or being a father. Does art in sculpture, painting, dance, music, poetry, short stories, movies or architecture show the mother, the child, the role of a father, birth as something positive? There was a time where the onset of a woman’s cycle meant you came of age and it was celebrated, where pregnant woman dancing was the theme of major art work, today?

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=1249938 (Stop having children and save the planet Ted Turner, father of five, tells you.)

No matter what animal or plant we are talking about, if you do not reproduce you will go extinct. The most basic function of life is reproduction. The basic purpose of marriage is to produce children and rear them be creating a father. That somehow has gotten lost in a convoluted tax code and hedonistic society that attempts to separate out the fun of sex from its purpose and consequences.
What is happening in Europe is that essentially through immigration the population is sustained and the social and economic system is kept afloat, albeit at the expense of their culture long term being washed out by immigrants that are not assimilating and coming in large numbers. Immigration is fine, but not when it’s too much too quickly and those coming in are not assimilating. Then you get an almost Balkanization of society where as in France you have areas that are like Beirut more than anything one would expect to see 10 miles from Paris center. Within 40~50 years, Germany will have lost its cultural identity as a Judea-Christian, Western, liberal republic. Evidence of this is apparent and witnessed in their arts, language and every other aspect of life and culture but it is the shift in demographics that is driving this. German attempts to revive their language or culture are a joke and mere glossing over the real issue; they are as a people and culture dying out. Like some French that refuse to speak English or refuse American films be shown to preserve their culture, this is nothing more than superficial because the real issue is that already 10% of their population today is Muslim and this population group is the fastest growing demographic in their country. They might refuse to speak English, but in the meantime you can get around France pretty well speaking Arabic. Nearly 30% of the entire population of children in Germany are to parents where at least one side is foreign born and in no way European or North American in cultural identity. It is the consequence of a “system” that as we are now beginning to create in the US destroys families, punishes having children, de-incentivizes marriage. Fact is, while the French/Germans want to preserve their culture and language, they have in reality become dependent on this immigration to keep their economic and social system afloat!

A former German monarch once said that by not having children you are robbing him of a soldier and taxpayer. I guess the Germans have sort of lost that concept over time…..but so are we.

64 posted on 12/28/2010 9:47:32 AM PST by Red6
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To: TruthConquers

Similar to my family. All the goodness surrounding a family lost because of a phase that would have passed, if only the marriage contract had been properly enforced.


65 posted on 12/28/2010 1:28:04 PM PST by donna (Imagine...women who honor men enough not to tempt them.)
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To: Niuhuru
Most certainly, but they forget that this poor population has guns. A poor, demoralized population with rage at politicians is not a good combination.

It's a great combination, unless you're the thieving, treasonous government that made them poor.

Then it's just karma.


Frowning takes 68 muscles.
Smiling takes 6.
Pulling this trigger takes 2.
I'm lazy.

66 posted on 12/28/2010 2:11:09 PM PST by The Comedian (Government: Saving people from freedom since time immemorial.)
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To: The Comedian

That’s what I meant.


67 posted on 12/28/2010 2:13:57 PM PST by Niuhuru (The Internet is the digital AIDS; adapting and successfully destroying the MSM host.)
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To: Khankrumthebulgar

Im’ going to go out on a limb and tell people that are responsible to simply preapre and let society collapse. At this point, preaching ot the irresponsible is just a new form of entertainment to them. Let the whole thing fall to true pieces and then when they crash and burn, the responsible will be the new masters and the responsilbe and smart will be the ones who are running things and setting standards.

If you take a highly intelligent nerd and put them in a room full of idiots, in time, the nerd will be the joke or bullied, but will over time end up running everything. It’s only a matter of time until the system breaks completely down, trying to find solutions is a futile measure and any solutions will only be a stopgap and prevent full societal change for the better.

We need ot get tough with these types the same way that family members are encouraged to get tough with drunks.


68 posted on 12/28/2010 2:26:01 PM PST by Niuhuru (The Internet is the digital AIDS; adapting and successfully destroying the MSM host.)
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To: danielmryan

In Europe, you assume, the workers are not on the take nearly as much. They’ve been bought off with massive time off, 9-3 days and the idea that if they had to pay for their healthcare they’d surely be selling matchsticks on street corners. The workers no longer have the oomph to take to the streets for anything.


69 posted on 12/28/2010 2:31:24 PM PST by riri
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To: riri
In Europe, you assume, the workers are not on the take nearly as much. They’ve been bought off with massive time off, 9-3 days and the idea that if they had to pay for their healthcare they’d surely be selling matchsticks on street corners. The workers no longer have the oomph to take to the streets for anything.

Maybe...but the people who are taking to the streets are even more bought off than they.

70 posted on 12/28/2010 3:53:14 PM PST by danielmryan
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To: danielmryan

The funny thing...they’ve all been bought off. Traded crumbs for untold potential. How sad is that?


71 posted on 12/28/2010 4:12:56 PM PST by riri
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To: riri
The funny thing...they’ve all been bought off. Traded crumbs for untold potential. How sad is that?

Historians may well weep (unless they're from the side that ultimately takes over.)

72 posted on 12/28/2010 4:47:08 PM PST by danielmryan
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The article’s middle class has no one to blame but itself.

It voted for big government, big pensions, big unions, and inevitably big failure.


73 posted on 12/28/2010 4:52:36 PM PST by Gene Eric (Your Hope has been redistributed. Here's your Change.)
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To: Gene Eric
The article’s middle class has no one to blame but itself.

It voted for big government, big pensions, big unions, and inevitably big failure.

Whether the article is right or wrong that's not what it's about.

Reading beyond the first paragraph will show that.

It's also not clear that the people she describes did vote that way.

Or that divorce and illegitimacy rates would be any different if they'd voted the other way.

In fact, divorce and illegitimacy rates are on average higher in 2008's red states than in the blue states.

Finally, the "they asked for it" argument is something foreigners could make against the whole country, since the kind of problems the article deals with (and those you refer to) are pretty much nationwide.

74 posted on 12/28/2010 5:02:31 PM PST by x
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To: TheBlueMax

You’re right.


75 posted on 12/28/2010 5:25:05 PM PST by Excellence (Buy Progresso, take off the label, write "not halal," mail to Campbell's soup company.)
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To: x

I read the entire excerpt, but did not follow the link to read the rest of the article.

I did not make reference to party affiliation.

Unfortunately, economics plays a significant role in the wellness of family life. That is not to say that the spoils of wealth guarantee quality, but it is well known that “when financial problems come in through the front door, love often goes out the back door”.

My point is sound though you seem to disagree - the principle of “give me more for less” has indeed contributed to economic and moral failure. The vote for this destructive principle is evident in both political parties.

I’m not making a comment on any individual or family. It is the large scale manifestation of apathy and entitlements that tells the story.


76 posted on 12/28/2010 5:33:22 PM PST by Gene Eric (Your Hope has been redistributed. Here's your Change.)
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To: donna

Then, I am truly sorry to hear that. It is a very tough place to be, looking back at all the harm that was done because society decided that marriage isn’t worth it.


77 posted on 12/28/2010 5:45:12 PM PST by TruthConquers (Delendae sunt publicae scholae)
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To: neverdem

bttt


78 posted on 12/28/2010 6:47:35 PM PST by dennisw (- - - -He who does not economize will have to agonize - - - - - Confucius)
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