Why Marriage Should Be a National Priority

[Macallik86]

I don't get the impression at all, how did you come to this conclusion? And Kearney goes into greater depth as to the reasons why she thinks there has been a decrease in marriage--primarily economic reasons--but at no point does she push the notion that "blisfully married" would be something that comes easy.

And she doesn't couch her beliefs with the fact that 50% of marriages end in divorce. There's an inherent selection bias in her perspective because married individuals that are geared towards worse outcomes are liable to self-selected back into the unmarried cohort.

She also doesn't couch the fact that, sustainable relationships are paramount to sustainable marriages (if one chooses to go that route) and that a divorced/never-married-yet-healthy relationship will likely have a more positive impact on child-rearing than a miserably married couple with lopsided responsibilities. By no means do I think the majority of single mothers have a healthy co-parenting situation, but the author uses marriage as a shorthand for healthy relationships which gives the impression that if these single women got married, they'd be gucci.

Let's say I bring a new drug to the market. It is clinically proven to improve the lives of half the people who take it, while the other half end up worse off. From a marketing perspective, the answer is simply to continue marketing the drug because 50% of the people who take it will have better outcomes. From a governmental perspective, the answer is to realize the drug isn't for everyone and figure out additional alternative ways to make people healthier. The author in OP is telling everyone to get on the drug and cross your fingers that it works for you,

Encouraging marriage for the sake of marriage is not what she is doing in the article or in the podcast episode. She is emphasizing the secondary benefits of marriage in relation to children, and how those benefits are increasingly becoming more concentrated in the children of the college educated.

What does 'promote marriage more' entails? Additional tax breaks for married individuals even though it's a poor intrinsic motivator and will serve to exacerbate the gap between the two cohorts further?

 

[ogc163]

She also doesn't couch the fact that, sustainable relationships are paramount to sustainable marriages (if one chooses to go that route) and that a divorced/never-married-yet-healthy relationship will likely have a more positive impact on child-rearing than a miserably married couple with lopsided responsibilities.

A) She doesn't bring sustainable relationships up in the article probably because it's obvious and not bringing it up being held against her is nitpicking.

B) She discusses the never married co-parenting vs married parents in the interview, and points out that the children of married parents generally do better. Your convenient counterexample is not relevant to what generally occurs, because it is likely not prevalent all though I am open to seeing evidence to pointing to the contrary.

By no means do I think the majority of single mothers have a healthy co-parenting situation, but the author uses marriage as a shorthand for healthy relationships which gives the impression that if these single women got married, they'd be gucci.

Again she does not put forward as a silver bullet, you are oversimplifying her stance.

The author in OP is telling everyone to get on the drug and cross your fingers that it works for you,

This is a silly analogy.

 

[Macallik86]

A) She doesn't bring sustainable relationships up in the article probably because it's obvious and not bringing it up being held against her is nitpicking.

And my perspective is that this should be the end goal. Create a society that incentivizes the root cause (sustainable relationships) instead of a potential side effect of the root cause (marriage). Focusing on marriage seems inefficient and fighting against the tide in 2023. It's like Republicans telling everyone that they're going to open more coal factories (another silly analogy for ya ;) )

 

[bnew]

no one should have to get married to escape poverty especially when they work full-time.

 

[88m3]

Getting rid of incels needs to be a bigger national priority.


Marriage is really cool


Thanks for sharing, OP.

 

[Lexington Steele]

“What about family structure?” he asked. “Single-parent families are more likely to be poor than two-parent ones. Does family structure play a role in poverty?”

Let's take this further. What about grandpa and grandma being around to help with the kids? What about aunts and uncles being nearby to help raise the next generation? How about having lots of cousins around, instead of everybody moving away for jobs, so that the children have different but trustworthy perspectives to learn from? You know. Keeping the village together.

And even people who aren't related. Neighbors, friends, even strangers. How about a sense that we're all in this together? That we're, you know, a community?

How about that tradition that's even older than the nuclear family? Instead of this hyper-individualistic, focused primarily on making profits, capitalis.........

Oh. That's why the "scholar to whom the question was directed looked annoyed and struggled to formulate an answer." That's why "The panelists shifted in their seats." and "The moderator stepped in." Because our real religion, capitalism, is the culprit, and we've been trained all our lives to believe it's blasphemy to question it.

 

[Secure Da Bag]

Let's take this further. What about grandpa and grandma being around to help with the kids? What about aunts and uncles being nearby to help raise the next generation? How about having lots of cousins around, instead of everybody moving away for jobs, so that the children have different but trustworthy perspectives to learn from? You know. Keeping the village together.

And even people who aren't related. Neighbors, friends, even strangers. How about a sense that we're all in this together? That we're, you know, a community?

How about that tradition that's even older than the nuclear family? Instead of this hyper-individualistic, focused primarily on making profits, capitalis.........

Oh. That's why the "scholar to whom the question was directed looked annoyed and struggled to formulate an answer." That's why "The panelists shifted in their seats." and "The moderator stepped in." Because our real religion, capitalism, is the culprit, and we've been trained all our lives to believe it's blasphemy to question it.

Black folk not ready for that convo, breh.

 

[Lexington Steele]

Black folk not ready for that convo, breh.

Black folk have been ready for that convo since day one. That is why the United States government murdered every single black leader who publicly admitted they were interested in opposing capitalism.

Listen to me. I can feel the wind. It's changing directions. It always does that, but sometimes you can feel a significant change.

 

[Wild self]

no one should have to get married to escape poverty especially when they work full-time.

These c00n bootstrappers don't want to hesr that.

 

[Macallik86]

NPR response on the book:

https://www.npr.org/2023/10/22/1207322878/single-parent-married-good-for-children-inequality

 

[Starman]

no one should have to get married to escape poverty especially when they work full-time.

The working poor always have and always will exist. And two incomes under the same roof working towards the same goals will always go further than one.

 

[Studious one]

It's because marriage provides nothing for men to benefit from. Divorce and child support can and do destroy men both mentally and financially..it's not worth it for most modern men..even women are catching on

Marriage primarily Benefits men. Divorce primarily benefits women.

 

[Studious one]

A) She doesn't bring sustainable relationships up in the article probably because it's obvious and not bringing it up being held against her is nitpicking.

B) She discusses the never married co-parenting vs married parents in the interview, and points out that the children of married parents generally do better. Your convenient counterexample is not relevant to what generally occurs, because it is likely not prevalent all though I am open to seeing evidence to pointing to the contrary.


Again she does not put forward as a silver bullet, you are oversimplifying her stance.


This is a silly analogy.

I don’t even see how there’s an argument against the point that a two parent household would be more beneficial than a one parent household. That’s common sense. At least it should be.

 

[Payday23]

Marriage primarily Benefits men. Divorce primarily benefits women.

How does a marriage benefit men?

 

[Payday23]

Marriage primarily Benefits men. Divorce primarily benefits women.

How does a marriage benefit men?