Why Won’t Liberals Talk about the Most Important Kind of ‘Privilege’ in America?

National Review ^ | 03/23/2015 | by LEE HABEEB & MIKE LEVEN

[freedumb2003]

>> the likelihood of a child raised by parents born into the lowest income quintile moving to the top quintile by the age 40 was a disastrous 3 percent. <<

Hey, I am a 3 percenter!!!

Maybe it had something to do with my Mom emphasizing that reading was important (I grew up on Asimov, Heinlein, MacDonald, Farmer and, yes that slut Bradbury).

She also made it clear poverty was temporary and education was permanent. It is a long and sad story about how we ended up in poverty but my siblings and I all came away with the same VALUES: education and knowledge for their own sake, intellectual curiosity (why are somethings so and others not so?).

The greatest gift you can provide is these values. I thank God I was able to tell Mom how they shaped me before she died (too young).

Thanks for my new tag :)

[SomeCallMeTim]

I’ve been saying this to everyone I know since I read Coming Apart. The data is shockingly clear. If you want to succeed in life, do this:

1) Get Educated
2) Stay off drugs,
3) Get married.

[Dilbert San Diego]

Well, due to liberalism and political correctness and their lines of thinking, we can’t really have these discussions about the importance of marriage, how children are raised, etc. You are behind the times, thinking we live in a Leave it to Beaver world, etc. etc.

As Dan Quayle found out years ago, touching on this subject will provoke attacks that you are criticizing single mothers, that you hate single mothers, etc.

We can’t seem to discuss issues based on the merits. Instead, liberals turn it into a situation in which you are hateful or critical of whoever is involved.

Examples: opposing homosexual marriage means you hate a homosexual.

Opposing abortion on demand means you hate women, and are a part of the war on women.

Opposing the global warming industry means you hate mother earth, and want a polluted environment.

Opposing affirmative actions means you hate minorities and are racist.

We have all heard variations of these types of statements from the left. We can’t discuss issues for what they are. Instead we are steered into debates about why do you have (fill in the blank)???

[Tilted Irish Kilt]

(from the article): “the marriage privilege” leads to success

Marriage implies mutual dedication, moral committment, and longevity to a male/female relationship ;
implied is ,in the event of children, there is continuity of role-modeling by two parents who offer support and supervision .
I believe that two parent support and supervision is reflected by academic concern, and involement, which leads more likely to academic success.
Why is it that in some inner city school systems, the graduation rate through high school is as low as 13% ?
Those same school systems continue to operate, expressing dismay over the low graduation rate, but fail to substantly take any significant corrective action .
I attribute “the marriage privilege” as leading to academic success , role modeling ,and ultimately to financial success and personal satisfaction .

[deadrock]

Unfortunately, feminist laws and courts make #3 an undesirable option for men who which to succeed in life.

[SunkenCiv]

not enough has been written about the most important advantage a baby can have in America: the advantage of being born with a mother and father who happen to be married. Call it "the marriage privilege"

Have a great day, all!

[Teacher317]

Right there with ya. After my parents divorced, we kids stayed with mom. A few nights in the shelters did happen over the years. However, the focus was always on school, patience, treating others with respect, hard work, and having fun (games, puzzles, books, sports, creativity - like occupying ourselves for 3-6 hours with nothing more than a tennis ball and a curb, etc etc etc). Since I left teaching, I’ve been happily “overpaid” for quite some time. Somehow, I don’t recall once getting any steps ahead because I was white. They were mostly from hard work, talking to the right people, making wise educational choices after that first liberal arts degree, and some good fortune (thank You again, Lord).

[freedumb2003]

Teaching is the highest good, other than being Apostles and Prophets (1 Corinthians 12)

₂₈ And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.

My mom was a natural teacher and I think I got a bit of that gift from her. And through the Lord I will channel that gift.

You clearly have the gift and I am sure you lift up your students in fact and in spirit :)

The greatest gift of all. And thank you for sharing your gift.

PS: When I retire in a few years I really want to be a teacher.

[PGR88]

They ARE talking about it. Their answer is gay marriage, to further destroy the so-called priviledge of married couples with children

[chesley]

Occassionally a social scientist will get it right.

Only occassionally, though.

[PGR88]

I’ve got a friend who is a high school administrator. Her basic observation: the kids with two parents at home always turn out ok despite whatever trouble they may get in

[Albion Wilde]

Unfortunately, feminist laws and courts make #3 an undesirable option for men who which to succeed in life.

Prepare oneself properly and choose a mate carefully so as to keep one's marriage out of the courts and there will be no problem.

Men need to understand the religious aspect of marriage and choose a woman based on those eternal principles, rather than just look for a nook and hope it all turns out all right. I say this because of just what you say: the courts have turned marriage against men. Where once women bore the greater share of risk, feminism has attempted to redistribute risk to the point where men are at greater risk and are not prepared for it by pop culture — so it is they who must prepare their minds and not rush into sexual involvements. It's the new chastity. Even hooking up with "loose women" will not spare men from child support claims or other disasters.

In the old days, women spent their entire childhood and teen years preparing themselves for the only career available to them: wife and mother. If she chose her partner well and did her part as the "submissive" spouse, marriages lasted. Men, too, were prepared by their parents not to cause shame with an unintended pregnancy, and breaking this covenant meant you would have to leave school and go to work to support not just the child, but also a wife you may not have been ready to marry. Those marriages turned out less well, but tough divorce laws meant that those marriages lasted for the benefit of the children and social stability, even if they weren't particularly happy.

Today, post-Sexual Revolution, people of both sexes want relationships based on feeling good emotionally and having access to every variety of sexual behavior without benefit of marriage, and in many cases without any commitment whatsoever. "We're seeing how this develops." Ignoring the deep connectedness that God Almightly has gifted humans with through sexual expression, they proceed to hold themselves harmless in their minds, while becoming so attached physically that their relationship is more like an addiction than an exploration of mind and heart that could lead to a stable marriage that can weather the storms of life. "Having it all," they end up with rubble as the marriage breaks down after they have a mortgage, other bills and children.

And divorce is the gift that keeps on giving, throughout all the rest of the milestones of life, when that partner is not present for the children, or is present, jostling for position with the spouse's new partner when the kids have school activities, holidays, significant events, children of their own, even control of their parent's elder care, death and burial.

The obvious answer is to resurrect the religious and cultural education of self and others as to what marriage really is — a mutual delight in one another exclusively even through the self-sacrifice of caring for one another and children for life in order to be pleasing to God — rather than the "if it feels good, do it" pop culture version. As the article quoted from Dietrich Bonhoeffer, “It is not your love that sustains your marriage, but... the marriage that sustains your love.”

[cincinnati65]

I would add a #4, although it may be an offshoot of #1...

4) Live within your means.

[ELS]

Well said.

[jmacusa]

Moved ‘em off the cotton plantation and on to the welfare plantation. Slavery of a different kind.

[Ohioan]

It is, of course, inane--indeed absolutely nonsensical--to refer to the benefits achieved by multi-generational striving, as "privilege." Similarly, it is idiotic to refer to the children of those who have enough sense to engage in the traditional family building (which has always relied upon the sanctification of marriage), as "privileged."

I certainly understand why the writers would choose to make the points that they do, by employing an inane, nonsensical framing of the dynamics of the family, as an answer to the gobbling of the Academic Left, in its endless effort to stir up hatred & envy in America. However, to the extent that it gives the appearance of acceptability to the Leftist gambit on misusing the term "privilege," it is a mistake.

While just about everyone at Free Republic understands that the garbage being spewed about "White Privilege," is in fact garbage; others, less well informed about the line between reality & fantasy, may be inclined to take the "concerns" being parroted, more seriously. To the extent that the National Review frame, here, gives credibility to the Leftist diaglog, it is a mistake.

William Flax

[oprahstheantichrist]

Wow, post of the day.

[jonatron]

btt

[SomeCallMeTim]

I don’t disagree... I was quoting Murray.

Took me until the age of 34 to figure it out....at SOME point, you MUST spend less than you earn.

It’s kind of like gaining weight....at SOME point, you HAVE to stop.