The Class War Against Marriage

John writes:

Jill Filipovic wrote an interesting article on Cif America celebrating the collapse of traditional marriage. Ms. Filipovic covers a lot of ground in her article, but what really jumped out at me was how utterly bourgeois the whole piece was. In particular, Filipovic’s glowing description of the superior marriage outcomes of affluent, well-educated women was telling, even if it was not surprising. One commenter writing under the name “ninoinoz” really caught the spirit of Filipovic’s article when he pointed out that while “liberation” may have been great for middle-class women, it has not always been so kind to working-class or poorer women, especially for those with husbands in the declining industrial sector.

To be frank, I can’t help but think that stable marriage and the benefits it confers upon people are becoming a luxury affordable only to the affluent. While affluent social liberals write glorious paeans to the collapse of marriage, they sure seem to enjoy the benefits of stable marriages in their own lives and among their own class while essentially ignoring or downplaying the plight of poorer, less-educated women.

Of course, harsh and judgmental puritanism is not the answer either. Instead, a public commitment to full employment at high wages, especially for men, is the only way to end the class war being waged against poor and working class families by economic right-wingers and social liberals. In practical terms, this may require large amounts of state intervention, including placing certain industries under public ownership. Many social conservatives will cry foul, but would they rather have people on the dole? Fierce right-wing opposition to public jobs programs during this latest recession seems to indicate that the answer is “yes,” as most mainstream conservatives would apparently rather keep people on the dole than have the state intervene to provide good jobs to the unemployed, especially unemployed men.

Additionally, changing laws to make marriage more attractive and divorce more difficult to obtain would also be necessary in a broad, pro-family, pro-marriage program. However, it is clear that the great marriage divide is currently being drawn along class lines, therefore necessitating an economic solution. Here is an area where social conservatives and the economic Left must join forces to slay the libertine beast that is devastating the poor and working-class all in the name of a false, pay-to-play concept of freedom and equality.