Jul 193 min read

American Families: The Foundation of Our Country

The importance of family is a core value of Proper Patriot. It is our full conviction that “The American Family is the building block of our nation.” However, in the last half-century, that foundation has begun to erode as the stability of American families rapidly declines.

Families form communities, and communities create towns and municipalities, which then establish states and nations. The essential foundation of our country is the American family and we're witnessing its collapse.

The Decline of American Families

As traditional families have fallen in cultural importance and prevalence, the structure of our society is rotting out from within. So what has caused this?

A wonderful article by the City Journal explaining the loneliness epidemic brought about by the decline of the family described the effects of the Second Demographic Transition (SDT) as such:

“As societies became richer and goods cheaper and more plentiful, people no longer had to rely on traditional families to afford basic needs like food and shelter. They could look up the Maslovian ladder [hierarchy of needs] toward “post-material” goods: self-fulfillment, exotic and erotic experiences, expressive work, and education. Values changed to facilitate these goals. People in wealthy countries became more antiauthoritarian, more critical of traditional rules and roles, and more dedicated to individual expression and choice. With the help of the birth-control pill, “non-conventional household formation” (divorce, remarriage, cohabitation, and single parenthood) went from uncommon—for some, even shameful—to mundane…

The disruption of family life caused by the SDT in the U.S. has been rehearsed thousands of times, including by this writer, but the numbers still startle. In 1950, 20 percent of marriages ended in divorce; today, it’s approximately 40 percent. Four in ten American children are now born to unmarried mothers, up from about 5 percent in 1960. In 1970, 84 percent of U.S. children spent their entire childhoods living with both bio-parents. Today, only half can expect to do the same.”

We highly recommend reading the full article by Kay S. Hymowitz detailing the decline of American families and its effect on the psyche of our country.

The Fall of Two-Parent Homes

To better understand the sheer dismal state of traditional American families, let's look at The Joint Economic Committee of Congress’ new study titled “The Demise of the Happy Two-Parent Home.”

The report thoroughly presents statistics revealing the stunning collapse of marriage and traditional family in America and then examines possible reasons for why it has happened.

In 1962, 71% of women ages 15-44 were married. By 2019, this was down to 42%.
In 1962, 5% of women ages 30-34 had never been married. By 2019, this was up to 35%.
In the 1960s, less than 1% of couples living together were not married. Today, it is over 12%.
And the percentage of births to unmarried women has risen from 5% in 1960 to 40% in 2018.

In a 2002 Gallup poll, 45% said to have a baby outside of marriage was morally acceptable. By 2015, this was up to 61%, and by 2019, it was up to 64%. American values have changed, and the effects have been disastrous.

An extensive amount of research now exists revealing the social benefits of traditional marriage and family, and the social costs of their collapse.

For those of us who are worried about the situation, and want to see marriage and family strengthened again, the beginning must be an awareness of the problem. We must recognize the catastrophic consequences of family decline in America if we ever hope to reverse the trend and restore the building block of our country!

Change Begins With Each of Us

The rapid transformation of American cultural values over the last half-century will not be easy or brief to change, as many are just now seeing the sexual revolution for what it truly was, misguided and destructive.

However, we can make a monumental change in our own approach to marriage and traditional families.

Proper Patriots understand and cherish the importance of families as the building block of our country, raising the future generation of Americans.

Join us in "Honoring the American Spirit" by embodying the values that built and sustained this country for over 200 years: Family, Tradition and Self-Reliance.

Thank you for reading! May God bless our country and help us to restore the American family.

"Values We Stand By" Shirts - Family. Tradition. Self-Reliance.