View this post on the web at [link removed]

The outcome of the 2024 presidential election didn’t just end Vice President Kamala Harris’ political career. It also closed the decade-long donnybrook about Donald Trump’s viability as a candidate. Sure, a minority of Republicans refused to vote for him and now criticize his policy proposals. But his victory ended the debate, and he can’t run again anyway.
Trump didn’t win the election on tariffs, mass deportation or his viral “YMCA” dance. He won because many voters believe something is fundamentally wrong with modern America. And they’re sick of being scolded for noticing.
On a wide array of issues—inflation, debt, illegal immigration, basic law and order—the past few years were a four-alarm fire. President Joe Biden’s response was to insist everything was fine, and then pour kerosene on the embers.
It’s pretty easy to debate economic policy, to toss numbers into a spreadsheet and see what adds up. That which is measurable gets measured. But you can’t quantify the endless list of social ills shaking the scaffolding that holds up civil society.
On Rocky Ground
Perhaps the most fundamental social ill is the precarious state of the family. The statistics are easy to find and horrifying to read. Look at marriage: In 1949, nearly 79% of households were composed of married couples. By 2022, that figure had dropped [ [link removed] ] to just 47%.
Not only is matrimony in retreat, those who do tie the knot are waiting much longer [ [link removed] ]. In 1967, 85% of women and 75% of men had been married by age 25. In 2022, only 20% of 25-year-old women and 23% of 25-year-old men had married. The current median age for men to marry is 30, and for women, it’s 28—an eight-year increase from 1956.
This is bad news for both sexes and worse news for future generations. America’s fertility rate now sits at 1.94 children per woman [ [link removed] ], well below the 2.1 needed to sustain the population. Of those kids who are born, nearly one in four doesn’t have a father at home [ [link removed] ], whether biological, step or adoptive. A fatherless home correlates [ [link removed] ] with a greater risk of poverty, behavioral problems, prison, crime, substance abuse and not completing high school.
These statistics help define the problem, but they only scratch the surface. Behind all the data points are human beings with no one to love, or longing for a lost parent or giving up on human connection altogether.
In any society, family is the bedrock, and its erosion threatens any chance of a healthy, thriving citizenry. Married individuals tend [ [link removed] ] to live longer, healthier lives [ [link removed] ], have higher levels of wealth and financial security [ [link removed] ] and contribute to social stability [ [link removed] ]. The growing number of unmarried adults means that fewer people reap those benefits, leaving our country less cohesive and less stable.
Even a cold-eyed economist can recognize some danger. A population that refuses to replenish itself ultimately leads to a demographic imbalance, where the old outnumber the young. In the absence of a strong family structure that fosters childbirth and child-rearing, the country risks labor shortages, increased pressure on social welfare programs and a diminished capacity for economic innovation and growth.
But the problem goes far beyond dollars and cents. As Edmund Burke said, “We begin our public affections in our families.” The family is the original “little platoon” in society, providing the foundational experiences of love, care and mutual responsibility that build civic virtue. When the family flourishes, so too does the society it sustains.
An Atomization Catastrophe
Modern forces—both political and cultural—have worked to undermine this crucial institution. When the state assumes functions once held by the family, such as education, child-rearing and even caregiving, the family unit is weakened. Generation by generation, the damage is exponential. No matter how well intentioned, replacing the family with the state dissolves society’s bedrock into shifting sand.
For a young woman, a husband is replaced with a government check. She avoids the horror of settling down with a committed lover by instead settling for a job that will never love her back, where her fate may lie with a flaky middle manager planning the next layoffs. Meanwhile, the father of her child is replaced with state-provided daycare.
The single man turns to porn for companionship and video games for a sense of accomplishment. He has given up on human connection because he isn’t the rich, 6’2” model who gets likes on dating apps. But at least that gives him more time to hit the gym or the bong.
Modern America’s atomization of the young is a very dark place, and one of the only policy prescriptions Harris clearly laid out—unrestricted abortions—didn’t lighten the mood. Funny, that.
Good News on the Horizon?
Not everyone is interested in a traditional family unit, a choice respected and usually celebrated in modern America. But marriage and family are unalloyed goods for society. (Babies are too, and they have the added benefit of being adorable.) Public policy should acknowledge that, as should our culture.
And there are early signs the culture is headed in that direction. Gallup recently found [ [link removed] ] that Americans’ preference for larger families is the highest since 1971. In the past two years, voters defining themselves as social conservatives increased from 30% to 38%, showing increases [ [link removed] ] among every generation but boomers.
Another study revealed that Gen Z teens are twice as likely [ [link removed] ] to identify as more conservative than their parents when compared with millennials 20 years ago. The younger cohort still leans left compared to older generations, but Trump’s gains among young men [ [link removed] ] are impossible to ignore.
It will take years to see if this more family-friendly outlook strengthens or diminishes. But in the meantime, the decline of the family isn’t a trend we must passively accept. For America to have any future at all, we need policies that support and strengthen the family. Marriage must be defended and childbearing ought to be celebrated, and we must ensure families retain the ability to provide for and educate their children. The expansion of school choice is an excellent step in this direction, especially empowerment savings accounts, which allow tax dollars to follow the student instead of sprawling school districts.
While the family might be under siege, it is hardly beyond repair. The resilience of human nature and the sheer pleasure of love and commitment create hope for renewal. But it also requires a cultural shift, where marriage and family are once again viewed as central to the well-being of individuals and society.
Ultimately, a thriving society depends on its families. If we are to secure a prosperous and stable future for the United States, we must recognize that marriage, children and family are not just personal choices—they are national imperatives. We can’t ignore the benefits that strong families bring to our economy, social fabric and individual lives. The time has come for Americans to reinvest in the family as the cornerstone of a good and just society.

Unsubscribe [link removed]?