Sunday, June 11, 2006

Let's get on with task of really saving marriage

Here's another article by David Waters at the Commercial Appeal.

An excerpt...

It's hard out here for a married couple. Just look at the divorce rate. One of every two marriages fail. If one of every two incumbents failed to get re-elected, Congress would have passed the Incumbent Protection Amendment years ago.

About the only thing harder than being and staying married in this society is being and staying married with children. Instead of making it harder to get married, Senator, how about finding ways to make it easier to be married?

Instead of giving tax cuts to the wealthy, give them to married couples in any income bracket, especially those with children at home. The longer you're married, the lower your tax rate.

Instead of rewarding unwed teenage mothers with government benefits, reward those who don't get pregnant with college scholarships or living-wage jobs after they graduate from high school.

Instead of forcing single mothers to get jobs or lose benefits, guarantee living-wage jobs and benefits (including job training or college) to all married fathers with children.

How about sending married soldiers home sooner, and for longer periods of time?

How about lower interest rates or zero down payments for newlyweds buying their first home?

There are a lot of amazing single mothers and fathers out there who are better and more responsible parents than many of us who are married.

There are children out there who are better off after their parents divorce. Divorce should be safe, legal and less common, but not forbidden.

This isn't about them. The divorced, widowed or responsibly single among us should not be treated as second-class citizens.

But the married among us should be encouraged, supported and protected because healthy marriages are good for all of us.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Robert,
Interesting article. I was perusing some blogs today and ran across one of Al Mohler's. Check out his post entitled: "The Enemy of Marriage -- Divorce"
It's mostly quotes from another article, but it's good to know that at least some leaders in the SBC are beginning to become more concerned with divorce instead of just the whole gay marriage thing.