Red and Blue Families
Washington Times Columnist Cheryl Wetzstein interviewed me for this article on the new book Red Families v. Blue Families: Legal Polarization and the Creation of Culture. Cheryl ably summarizes the basic premise of the book:
In blue states, families tend to be well-educated, have high-paying jobs, be tolerant of diversity and be politically liberal. They marry later in life, have children in wedlock and are dedicated co-parents….
Red-state families, however, seem to be stuck in a time warp — they tend to be more strict in their religious beliefs and aspire to abstinence until marriage and marriage for life. But they often fall short of these goals: Red states have high rates of teen births, young (“shotgun”) marriages and divorce. Red-state families are also less likely to be college graduates, get top jobs or create households where husbands and wives share equally in parenting and chores.
This shows that “blue” families have adjusted to the evolution of America’s family culture, while “red” families have not, Ms. Cahn and Ms. Carbone said.
“The blue paradigm is the other end of the sexual revolution. Its families have been remade and the remaking is a huge success,” they wrote. But red families are still trying to live in bygone times, and when children fail to live up to lofty aspirations, these families bear the consequences.
Just one problem with this analysis: it only applies to the “high-end” blue state families. Lower income families who live in accordance with the sexual revolution are not a “huge success.” They are the fall-out of the sexual revolution. And the “Progressives” have absolutely nothing to say to them, or to offer them.
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“All happy families are alike; every unhappy family is unhappy in their own way” But the classics are not something today’s journalists or authors bother about-they are too busy making themseleves feel and look good. This book was the subject of Russ Douhat’s articles in the NYTIMES. and he sorta lit into it- Heya its nonsense all political nonsense-part of the petulent rebellion-no family wants to see their daughters turn out to be ‘sex workers’ or their sons turn indolent or queer.
Lesbian daughters and gigolos are truly the embodiment of the american dream.
really, as if anyone is surprised. We, leftists, (god’s people) prioritize education, including sex ed in schools (you know, because we live in reality) and enjoy some of the lowest divorce rates in the county. Oh, look…liberal new england is a bastion of wedded bliss: http://www.divorcereform.org/94staterates.html , while red states are in the gutter, which is typical. It’s also no shock the more education you have, and the more intelligent you are, the more liberal you tend to be: http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/02/100224132655.htm
Here is a study from the university of california, san francisco (though I know, anything to do with san francisco is immediately discounted…like france, when it comes to conservatives) stating comprehensive sex education is best: http://ari.ucsf.edu/science/reports/abstinence.pdf
and another study from the NIH: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18346659 and another goodie: http://www.avert.org/abstinence.htm
I could go on and on how liberals truly are better equipped to deal with life on life’s terms, but I’ll let you do the research. Conservatives are entitled to their own opinions, but not their own facts. Sorry guys.