Yup. I used the 'B' word: billion. One hundred & twelve billion according to recently published study by Georgia State University economist Ben Scafidi.
"The study documents for the first time that divorce and unwed childbearing -- besides being bad for children -- are costing taxpayers a ton of money," said David Blankenhorn, president of the Institute for American Values.
The $112 billion estimate includes the cost of federal, state and local government programs, and lost tax revenue at all levels of government.
So tell me again why many people's foolish, libertine ways aren't any of my business? But let's be clear: govt. is not the answer - other than to quit funding this lunacy.
My title hints at the once prominent cultural pressures that sought to check this type of tax payers supported folly. Forty years ago, a musical group called 'The Supremes' had a #1 hit song entitled 'Love Child', and most rational people understood the shameful implications.
Now we collectively brush aside the sad tale of one lonely woman with four unruly kids from three absent fathers, and an alphabet soup of govt. agencies for support. The demand to condone & facilitate such 'families' is P.C. gospel. To do otherwise is 'judgmental & intolerant'. How dare you.
When my Father was a kid, during a real depression, 'going on the dole' - receiving a government subsidy - was a humiliating submission that many grown men were loath to accept. Now the government spends millions in adverts to hand out 'earned income credits' which are anything but earned. It's simply an elaborate income re-distribution process that millions put into their pockets. The recent abundance of swooning adulation for the obamanator's 'change' is the obvious fruition of this 'gimmee mine as long as someone else pays' mindset. They have rights.
Generations past once put great stock into 'living clean' - eschewing drugs; gambling; whoring; indebtedness; sloth & frivolity - all because some man on Sunday told them it was better if they didn't indulge in such things. Not perfect, but the applied philosophy harvested anecdotal truisms. We knew where the fences were & why. Now the Sunday man is scorned & the faithful are derided as intolerant rubes. We've confused license with liberty in the misguided notion that 'our happiness' is the final measure.
As such, our modern lexicon is peppered with words like addiction; divorce; lifestyle; entitlement; rehab; bankruptcy; child porn; STD; abortion; serial killer. But don't mention the 'G' word, especially in public - except to damn America. It's a law enforcement problem, not a moral problem. Right? We're entitled, you know.
Moral equivalence is the rule. The P.C. gospel must be imposed. Anointed, beautiful people will decide. They have moral authority cards. Lawyers are the new priesthood, and politicians their handmaidens.
Look up 'fascism' in the dictionary.
Perhaps John Adams, the second President of these here United States, said it best:
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
And now that 'any other' electorate is very adept at voting themselves into the public treasury to fund their foolish, libertine ways.
God save the Republic.
