Marriage rates in America have been declining for over half a century. In 1960, almost three quarters of Americans were married; now only about half of Americans are married. Dropping about ten percent the past couple decades, marriage rates are still steadily slipping. With certainly many factors, demographers struggle to accurately explain the continuing decline. Some say marriage is no longer in vogue, but there is evidence Americans still cherish marriage or at least long term relationships.
In the pop culture, marriage is not cool. Celebrities generally only marry for publicity and Sitcoms portray most young people in odd communal settings where everyone is bizarrely interdependent. But what about real people?
One large factor is Americans are getting married later. Fifty years ago, most Americans were getting married at about twenty years old; now it’s closer to thirty and growing numbers even later than that. Part of that delay is Americans are pursuing education much longer and another is young people are not in a hurry to have children if they are interested at all.
A recent Cornell University study offers a new reason; it claims marriage rates are falling because there is a “lack of economically-attractive men.” Women are having a hard time finding eligible men that can support a family or even ones with jobs. With record low unemployment, how can that be? Due to the severe dumbing down of our primary education system, most kids graduating High School have literally no marketable skills. More girls are going to college, but fewer boys are pursuing feminized higher education. And despite critical shortages in skilled trades, more boys are opting for menial service industry jobs or just staying at home with Mom and Dad.
Part of the reason boys are not striking out on their own is they don’t have to. They can stay in their childhood homes often for free room and board; and have plenty of time for entertainment like concerts, video games, or just hanging out online. They only need to make enough money for beer, a cell phone, and gas, so why worry with anything else?
Women are stepping up and getting more education, working, and making money because often they have children to support. Entirely too many out of wedlock births are allowing boys to escape responsibility. Women however are apparently still interested in marriage, but why should boys care when they can find ample affection for free. This is where women are enabling men to be bums. In an age of booty calls and no strings attached hook ups, why should boys be bothered with earning enough to take on familial obligations. The boys are getting what they want and going back to their buds.
This is not just a problem for women; this is a huge problem for America! A strong country is built on strong communities which are built on strong families. In yesteryear, young men and women were driven to strike out on their own to start their own families. They wanted their own homes and children to build a life. Alarming numbers of millennials are not that interested in children; they rather have a dog or an app. So again, if they are not raising children, why would boys care about taking on a wife? Unless she is supporting the bum.
Boys are surely primarily culpable for their malaise. It is utterly irresponsible and selfish to go around spreading their seed with no regard for the children they create. It is indefensible to wallow in immaturity while women struggle, children suffer, and society slides into immorality.
Women must abandon silly feminist notions that men are dispensable if not useless. They should embrace men as husbands and fathers and not favor or reward them unless they fulfill their duties as husbands and fathers. It’s past time for these boys to become men, but America must reassert that men and their masculinity are essential to our culture. America needs men not boys.
“When I was a child, I spoke as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child; but when I became a man, I put away childish things.” 1 Corinthians 13:11
