Posted on 12/02/2012 7:12:43 AM PST by SeekAndFind
For a brief moment last month—roughly a 72-hour span beginning at 11:00 p.m. on November 6 and concluding late in the evening of November 9—everyone in America was interested in demographics. That’s because, in addition to rewarding the just, punishing the wicked, and certifying that America was (for the moment) not racist, President Barack Obama’s victory over Mitt Romney pointed to two ineluctable demographic truths.
The first was expected: that the growth of the Hispanic-American cohort is irresistible and will radically transform our country’s ethnic future. The second caught people by surprise: that the proportion of unmarried Americans was suddenly at an all-time high.
Unfortunately, by the time the window closed on the public’s demographic curiosity no one really understood either of these shifts. Or where they came from. Or whether they were even particularly true. As is often the case, people tended to fixate on a relatively small, contingent part of America’s changing demographic makeup and look past the bigger, more consequential part of the story.
So let’s begin by asking the obvious question: Hispanics are America’s demographic future—true or false? The answer is, both. Sort of.
Start with what we know. As of the 2010 census, there were 308.7 million people in America, 50.5 million of whom (16 percent) were classified as being of “Hispanic origin.” Of that 50 million, about half are foreign-born legal immigrants. Another 11 million or so are illegal immigrants. A few other facts, just to give you some texture: 63 percent of American Hispanics trace their origins to Mexico, 9.2 percent to Puerto Rico, and 3.5 percent to Cuba. And more than half of the 50 million live in just three states, California, Texas, and Florida.
(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...
That’s like finding a new tribe. And since we’re voting almost entirely tribally these days, it may be significant.
This was a very interesting analysis, and for one thing shows why so many young non-Hispanic whites voted for Obama: they're single, have no families, and see the government as the shaper of their lives and provider of their future.
I think the author's conclusion - that the GOP has to encourage marriage and children, which can be done both by giving these things a positive image and by creating policies favoring marriage and children - is a good one, but the thing that will make it impossible is "gay marriage."
The reason that Obama and the Dems were so desperate to force this upon everyone is that it essentially destroys marriage and the family as cultural institutions and will have a repressive and destructive effect on religious practice that supports marriage and family (don't forget, it is only the church or the religious sphere that stands between the government and the individual and preserves the individual's right to moral autonomy). Thus, it will be impossible to create policies favoring marriage and family that can form the growth-and-future oriented society that they have encouraged throughout history. As the author points out, the concerns of single people (and I would include "married" gay people in this category) then become simply dealing with their immediate problems, getting a government that gives them what they think would be of immediate use to them, and to heck with the future. Sound familiar?
Very, very interesting points.
Single, did not vote for Obama here. It’s about time someone figured out that encouraging marriage - real marriage- is a net gain for the republican party.
Great article. You have to get through the part about declining Hispanic birth rates (which is interesting as well) to reach the arguments about the huge increase in the portion of the population remaining single. It doesn’t look good for limited government.
My generation was FORCED to leave...
I hear what your saying, but I have a good feeling that you and your contemporaries were not eager to spend their twenties and early thirties in their Mom and Dad’s basement.
This single didn’t vote for Obama and I also agree that marriage is good for America.
I agree, and that was the conclusion of the article.
However, I think the Dems (the “progressives” in general) have planted a depth charge in the institution of marriage by equating “gay marriage” with real marriage, and this is going to make it very hard for the GOP or conservatives to promote marriage and family without running afoul of the government’s “gay-marriage” laws.
I find it easy to understand how a “single” human unit with a worthless college diploma and living in mom and pop’s basement would vote for the Kenyan and his band of commie ‘RATS. They spent a fortune on getting some worthless “angry women’s studies” or “save da planet” diploma that nobody cares about. It all goes back to “everybody gets a trophy”. If everybody has a trophy, trophies become meaningless.
Of course not. The draft gave us a taste of freedom and a look into the world and like most, when my time was done, I returned to my parents’ home.....but not for long. lol
The true demographic we learned of after Nov. 6th was that 50+% of those that call themselves Americans are idiots who care nothing about the future, their freedom, or themselves.
Then they deserve what they are going to get. Unfortunately, the rest of us are along for the ride. How to decouple is the great question.
The institution of marriage was destroyed by "no fault" divorce (mostly initiated by the wife) and family courts that leave husbands and fathers destitute. This happened long before gay marriage came about.
Men have little incentive and enormous risk to get married these days.
My son is a teenager and attends a Christian high school. My experience, and it’s limited, is that the girls at the school don’t view the boys as potential mates, but as competition. It’s about scholarships and class rank. The parents of the girls expect their daughters to focus on getting ahead, not dating some boy. They expect their daughters to go to college and become successful in a career and then, and only then, look for a husband. Well, biology plays a part with the boys, too. If they’re serious about mating for life and having children, then how do these girls looks as potential mothers of your kids? They want to compete with you, not cooperate. Believe me, I know how stupid men can be about marriage and relationships, but the women haven’t proven to be any smarter.
Having known a woman who had to support her ex-husband (who simply refused to get a job, out of spite, so that she’d have to pay him a huge amount in support) and having to share custody of their son with him (although he was such a wierdo that the school asked him not to come in personally to pick up the child after school!), I’d say women probably don’t have much of an incentive to get married or have children either. The court was completely inflexible and seemed to be not in the least concerned about the child and his welfare.
So perhaps that’s one of the laws that needs to be changed or rewritten in such a way that it protects the child without destroying the life of one of the ex-spouses.
Great post!
Men spend too much time on the internet & play video games simply because feminism has ruined American women so much that it's just not worth trying to "woo their affections".
When your choices are shrew Sandra Fluke type Career women or single moms who popped out 2 or 3 kids from different thug fathers, both of which can easily rape you in divorce court, let's just say for most guys playing Wii or Playstation is a much better option.
These singles are going to need lots of help in old age especially with no children or spouses to absorb some of the tasks.
Investment opportunity.
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