Memo: The Injustice of the Broken American Family

The number is staggering, and at least as much of a threat to our way of life as anything Osama bin Laden has cooked up. Yet it is met with a collective shrug. Indeed, we are now so inured to such statistics that we regard them as a fact of nature, about which little can be done...

Comparing this "number" to the attacks by Osama bin Laden is either bold or irresponsible - I feel that it is the former. You might be wondering what this "number" is and how it can have such a big impact.

The U.S. government recently announced that 36.8 percent of the children born in America in 2005 were born out of wedlock. In other words, almost 4 of every 10 American newborns were placed into the arms of unmarried mothers with no real claims on the men who impregnated them. Very few of these parents will end up marrying each other, and very few of the fathers will be permanent presences in the lives of their children. The children themselves will have meaner and more marginal lives than their peers in two-parent families. (Story)

My generation, more than any other, can look around and know that this is true. Are the children of single-parent or step-parent families bad people? No, and such a suggestion is unjustly offensive. However, I have yet to meet a child of either of these types of families who desires the same for their children - I believe that this is significant. The problem illustrated by this article is that an artificial inequality is being created.

Inequality is not bad in and of itself. I believe that in the natural order of things, inequality exits in any community of individuals. For example, I cannot shoot a three-pointer to save my life so, in the world of basketball, I am not Lebron James' equal. Natural inequality arises when people are naturally gifted in some areas and not in others. Natural inequality makes us unique and creates a beautiful kind of diversity and co-dependence within human communities.

However, there is an artificial inequality which is a bad kind of inequality, one that is born out of personal irresponsibility or incontinence. This is what is occurring within the generations of children born to the 60's and 70's generation. As this article rightly points out, America's youngest generations are suffering the effects of an artificial inequality which arises from a system where personal responsibility and continence within the marital contract are abandoned and children are seen as more of a by-product than a blessing.

The artificial inequality created here specifically is one of opportunity for the youth; opportunity in education, economic resources, personal growth, and socialization which in turn impact the options and opportunities of individuals for the rest of their adult lives. The problem created here is that this artificial inequality is creating and perpetuating a class of people who will not be able to rise out of the lower class and will never have the opportunity to excel in their own right - something which America has been known for uniquely allowing. Worst of all, this system of artificial inequality is totally unnecessary and does not deserve further promotion by our mass media and certain more "progressive" segments of our culture.

Men need to learn to take responsibility for the children that they help create and be more mindful of the sort of lifestyle which naturally leads to the creation of human life. Women should not have to live in a world where their sexualization is either a means of getting attention or a means of liberation and recognition as an independent, established individual.

Failing to pursue this objective, and continual failure in the area of personal responsibility, will lead to future generations which are deeply and artificially divided by opportunity. This is an injustice to them - an injustice which they themselves never had an opportunity to make just.

Further Reading:
Effect of Marriage on Child Poverty
Statistics & Facts: Impact of Families on Children and Teens
Where Have All the Father's Gone?