Are Marriage and Parenthood Only for the Wealthy?
Patrick T. Brown Public Discourse
There are a lot of reasons why family formation—marriage and fertility—has seen a long downward trajectory. But one key driver is how the years of peak childbearing and peak human capital formation (education and job training) now directly conflict. Two factors typify why the post-industrial economy has curbed family formation: more people are going to school for longer, and many have higher standards for themselves as parents. Better approaches to public policy can help people build wealth over the long term, which can smooth out some of the inherent tradeoffs. But perhaps the biggest way we could reset the conversation around wealth, independence, and family formation is by revisiting some of our cultural expectations.
In a post-industrial society where marriage and fertility are expressions of values, rather than buttresses for economic security, policies that strive to make it as easy as possible for people to get married and have children should be at the forefront of the agenda. Broader state investment alone cannot take the place of a pro-family culture, from media outlets to religious institutions to schools.
Brad Littlejohn, writing for WORLD Opinions, asks after the moral justification in forcing physicians to perform so-called 'gender-affirming care,' and the deep schism between medicine and healthcare which this implies.
Understanding midterm data on female voting trends helps Carrie Gress to assess the growing rift between conservatives and women in her latest piece with the Theology of Home Project.
In this episode of Faith Angle ( Apple | Spotify | Podbean ), we are joined by Rev. Russell Levenson, Rector of St. Martin’s Episcopal Church in Houston, TX. In conversation with Kelsey Dallas of Deseret News, Levenson discusses his new book, Witness to Dignity, about the life and faith of George H.W. and Barbara Bush who attended St. Martin’s for over fifty years.
Henry Olsen participated in a panel, hosted by the American Enterprise Institute, exploring the rise of the primary system as well as the contemporary issues which call it into question. The state of the modern primary is assessed, and areas ripe for potential reform are suggested.
