[Mrs. Don-o]

One thing that really is worrisome is the rate of out-of-wedlock childbearing. Was it 1965 or so when Moynihan said the black family was "in crisis" and "pathological" because of a 1:3 rate of out-of-wedlock births? That's what the white illegitimacy rate is right now ---1:3--- the black illegitimacy rate is 1:2, and Hispanic, 2:3.

Those figures are from memory, and from a few years ago: they're undoubtedly worse now.

Ironically, it was said back in Moynihan's day that widespread contraception and the final bully back-up of abortion would take care of all that. In fact it has become twice as bad.

That's because the unintended consequences of contraception and abortion were far more pervasive and penetrating than the intended consequences.

And the deadly-efficient unintended consequences were to trivialize sexuality, kick the bottom out of marriage, abandon and impoverish (many) women into "autonomy," and turn (many) men into such puny, triflin' things that they no longer fit, and are no longer called on to be, husbands and fathers of families.

Well, back to the subject of this thread: Hooray for Michelle and Jim Bob Duggar! Hooray for their wealth of well-raised children!

[kabar]

Basically, it boils down to the disintegration of the family unit, the basic building block of civilization. It can only weaken us as a country.