Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Bloomberg Writer: Dropping Divorce Rate Is Leading to Inequality
Townhall.com ^ | September 28, 2018 | John Dempsey<img src=

Posted on 09/28/2018 10:24:34 AM PDT by Kaslin

A successful marriage is not difficult. Two people promise to love and take care of each other for the rest of their lives. There is no special magic, or equation. Two individuals simply make an honest commitment to each other and follow through. Regardless of what the left says about the success of a marriage, matrimony has nothing to do with equality between the educated class of society and the poorer less educated sect of society.

University of Maryland sociology professor Philip Cohen conducted an analysis that revealed an 18 percent drop in the divorce rate of Americans from 2008-2016. He found that individuals are starting to wait longer into their life after graduating from college and becoming established in their careers before committing to marriage. He also discovered that Americans who are less educated and have a low income are choosing to bypass union altogether, raising kids but not marrying.

The left is having a hard time with the results. Bloomberg writer Ben Steverman could not help himself and waited until the very end of his article to throw in that people who are more educated and able to maintain their marriage worsen the equality “issue” in the United States since more impoverished people tend to avoid marriage altogether, making marriage success about class warfare not commitment.

Steverman said since lower income couples do not get married there is less stability in the home. Children want and need security in the house. There are plenty of children whose parents are married, and the house is unstable. Instability manifests when one or both parents chose to take a path of some form of abuse on the other. He went on to say that successful marriages in the educated and less poor portion of society is a “sign of America’s widening chasm of inequality.”

The left doesn’t understand what an equal marriage is. Marriage does not discriminate between the educated and not, or rich or poor. Marriage can easily survive when each spouse is willing to do something special for the other, i.e., simple house chores, special trips, impromptu date, and the list goes on. A successful marriage does not need a leftist injecting their failed political ideologies into them. The left has destroyed enough of this country as it is. Real equality is treating each other with respect.

Instead of celebrating those who wait until they feel mature enough to make a lifelong commitment, the left bashes their decision instead and tell the ones who are educated and well off monetarily that they aren't fair. Instead of offering up some potential solution, Steverman criticizes.

The left is famous for bringing class warfare into every aspect of life. The “fight against inequality” is a joke. There will always be different levels of society. It is impossible to bring all facets of our culture to an equal plane.

People who stay in college to obtain their degree often land a well-paying job and tend to be mature. There is nothing unequal about that. All their accomplishments mean is that they are determined to work, and marriage can be work some days. Poor people can be determined to succeed, if they choose. Steverman takes that away by blaming equality instead of lack of commitment, and minimizing less educated poor individuals basically saying they are not capable.

There is no enlarging of inequality because one class of people do well at marriage. Marriage is what both people make of it, not society.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: marriage; wedding
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-29 next last

1 posted on 09/28/2018 10:24:34 AM PDT by Kaslin
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

So, now to the liberals a low divorce rate is bad news??? These people are certified looney birds.


2 posted on 09/28/2018 10:27:20 AM PDT by Parley Baer
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

So is the loony left academic’s position that we outlaw marriage to prevent inequality?


3 posted on 09/28/2018 10:28:53 AM PDT by chuckee (extended beyond the time)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
Perhaps the gov't could mandate more divorce among higher income couples?

Leftists promote on the destruction of the traditional family to increase dependence on gov't.

4 posted on 09/28/2018 10:29:00 AM PDT by G Larry (There is no great virtue in bargaining with the Devil)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
A successful marriage is not difficult.

Truly spoken like someone who has never been married.


5 posted on 09/28/2018 10:33:26 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
Nobody reading this, ever sat next to their equal on either side in any classroom, unless it was an identical sibling. Equality--as a concept--is reasonable in the sense of equal treatment in the Courts, and as a mathematical concept. It is ridiculous in gaging human potential.

Virtually all studies that suggest other explanations for inequality of achievement--other than the natural differences among subjects--simply confuse cause & effect. But they sure can confuse a lot of academics looking for a "cause."

Footnote On Egalitarian Absurdity

6 posted on 09/28/2018 10:43:52 AM PDT by Ohioan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

“A successful marriage is not difficult.”

The typing of words is not difficult.


7 posted on 09/28/2018 10:44:07 AM PDT by cdcdawg
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin
since lower income couples do not get married there is less stability in the home

This has been known from the start. But liberals insisted on destroying the nuclear family.

8 posted on 09/28/2018 10:44:35 AM PDT by BenLurkin (The above is not a statement of fact. It is either satire or opinion. Or both.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

The reason why divorce rates are going down....they’re just not getting married...just living together.
Just my 2 cents.


9 posted on 09/28/2018 10:47:17 AM PDT by Hurricane
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

Writer’s either not married or still in honeymoon phase.

I’m simple, I guess — wouldn’t fewer marriages (from waiting, shacking up & also MGTOW) mean fewer divorces over those 8 years?

The left’s social indoctrination of women and boys is the worst thing that’s happened to marriage over the past decades. The Amish, though, have kept the roles correct. Genesis/Adam & Eve was an early warning to all men. Red pill.


10 posted on 09/28/2018 10:47:58 AM PDT by polymuser (Its terrible to contemplate how few politicians are hanged today. - Chesterto)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

“...more impoverished people avoid marriage altogether...”

It may be that avoiding marriage and just “living together” (a notoriously unstable relationship) is one of the causative factors in low economic status. Or that the kinds of lifestyle choices which are associated with avoiding marriage in favor of “living together” contributes to poverty.


11 posted on 09/28/2018 10:50:05 AM PDT by VietVet
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

In a way, the author is correct. The institutions of marriage and family do provide long term stability which results in good things. Successful marriages result create wealth, and encourage people to care for each other rather than rely on the government programs. Children from two parent households do better in school, are more successful economically, have lower rates of crime and substance abuse, and are more likely have have successful marriages as adults.

There IS economic and social inequality between people who make the sacrifices necessary for stable marriages, and people who don’t.

What the author fails to recognize is that the left has worked to undermine the institutions of marriage and family for at least 60 years now. The media and academia have disparaged those institutions and celebrated alternative arrangements as equally good. Just like with other bad ideas like smoking and lottery tickets, uneducated people are more susceptible to media encouragement to forego marriage.

Government welfare and divorce policies provide economic incentives for low income men and women to remain single. The poorest among us are discouraged from forming formal the family bonds that would lift them out of poverty.

By all means lets fight inequality by encouraging everyone to take part in the great traditions of civilization which made it possible for a middle class to emerge.


12 posted on 09/28/2018 10:50:13 AM PDT by CaptainMorgantown
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

These articles on divorce are worthless without statistics on marriage rates.


13 posted on 09/28/2018 10:51:02 AM PDT by aimhigh (1 John 3:23)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Parley Baer

Of course it is, just like the low unemployment numbers mean that there are fewer people dependant on the gov......and apparantly that’s a bad thing.


14 posted on 09/28/2018 10:52:30 AM PDT by faturism (faturismbut'ty)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

“people who are more educated and able to maintain their marriage worsen the equality “issue” in the United States since more impoverished people tend to avoid marriage altogether, making marriage success about class warfare not commitment.”

Every time these academics open their mouths they make fools of themselves. So people who keep their marriages together are to blame for inequality because they make themselves successful? I think most would argue the exact opposite: People who get divorces are to blame because they make themselves unsuccessful.


15 posted on 09/28/2018 10:54:12 AM PDT by Brilliant
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Kaslin

marriage is class warfare, ya’ll. If you remain married you are a meanie. So say the Animal Farm gods of Communism.


16 posted on 09/28/2018 11:08:13 AM PDT by blueplum ( "...this moment is your moment: it belongs to you... " President Donald J. Trump, Jan 20, 2017)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Parley Baer

Just because the don’t know who their Daddy is, they don’t want you to know your Daddy either...

Simple, it’s the liberal way....envy and hate.


17 posted on 09/28/2018 11:23:38 AM PDT by FrankR (You gotta stand for something, or you'll fall for anything!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Hurricane

I believe they openly admit that - more people are never getting married, and those that are often doing so later - so they are much more aware of what they are getting into.


18 posted on 09/28/2018 11:46:55 AM PDT by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: aimhigh

I remember hearing this on the news a few weeks ago; the gist was that those who even bother to get married are older, so more aware of how it works. Basically (and in general), mostly serious people are included in the stats now - players don’t even bother marrying (hence no divorce).


19 posted on 09/28/2018 11:48:41 AM PDT by kearnyirish2 (Affirmative action is economic warfare against white males (and therefore white families).)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: polymuser

No need to marry for sex. With unlimited abortion, no need for romance, long term commitment, risk of financial responsibility.


20 posted on 09/28/2018 11:51:30 AM PDT by ActresponsiblyinVA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-29 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson