The Presidential election is approaching and I, an American citizen, feel as though I need to educate myself in order to cast an educated vote. I am trying to get my hands on any McCain and Obama literature.
I just finished Obama’s book: The Audacity of Hope.
I absolutely loved the chapter where Obama addresses the American nuclear family. Obama argues that the American family is deeply declining. He fires off these alarming statistics: ½ of first marriages end in divorce, 60% of divorces involve children, 1/3 of American children are born out of wedlock, and 40% of children don’t live with their biological fathers.
Despite the notion of majority of Americans feel that marriage is the best foundation for personal intimacy and economic stability, the 21st American family system is in deep trouble. About 55% of American families do not live in a perfect home with a biological mother and father, two kids, and a pet dog named Lassie.
A child living in a single parent home is 5 times more likely to be poor than a child living in a two parent household. This is the world in which we live in. I do not expect the government, congress, and the President to bully and make direct mandates for those who are not in a perfect nuclear family. I do not think it is fair for the American government to regulate what happens in our bedrooms.
If you were fat, would you like the government to regulate your diet and eating schedule? If you were born into one of the most poorest areas of the US and did not have access to birth control and knew it did not even exist, should you be punished for not having safe sex?
I do not believe that the government should bully people into relationships that we think are right for them or punishing those who do not meet our “sexual purity standard”.
One can say that Hollywood movies, liberals, gay pride parades, 2nd wave of feminist movement, MTV, video games, and music are assaulting our nuclear American families, which is causing them to become broken or unsettled.
I rather not point the finger to “these apparent things” and blame these things for destroying the family. I would rather adequately and effectively address and handle the massive family system problems that are strongly confronting our societies.
Who has the capacity to address and handle these problems? Government or society?
It is my belief that the government has a small role, but I feel that the church and community and non profit organizations handle the vast majority of the roles.
The church, community centers, and non profit organizations should be centers that give assistance to the traditional and nontraditional family system, while communicating a message of sexual purity.
I am very passionate about (unconventional and conventional) families. Unfortunately, I have worked with way too many broken, nontraditional, traditional, and messed up families to say the American family is doing okay. They are not and we cannot be blaming everyone and everything else for their problems. The problem is much deeper than that. It should be the call and job of the community organizations to step in and address the family system problem.
