Then. there is that other point that the ultra conservatives just love to harp upon. And that is the moral decline of our society. Which is indeed an actual event in our lives. It is in the reason why this is happening that we have different views. The ultra conservatives inevitably blame this on the people themselves (or even worse, Satan, or some other outside influence). The reason is greatly (but not always entirely, nothing is ever 100% in human affairs) due to the economic reality that it is now almost utterly impossible to maintain the so-called nuclear family. That is a family where one wage earner (still usually the husband) works for enough wages and benefits to assure a reasonable living for his/her family. Now, it takes (as you stated) both parents usually working at multiple jobs just to have the basics of living in our civilization.
This has now been going on for at least one, and even probably two generations. And leaves the children largely alone as latch key kids, with practically no supervision in growing up to be reasonable law abiding adults. And so, we have this general decrease in morality, which is to a great extent directly due to the decline of the middle class, and the almost total upward movement of wealth in this country!!!
The greatest proof of this lies in the almost worshipful attitudes of both the left and the right for the time from about the mid 1930’s through the mid 1970’s, when the middle class was actually growing and the nuclear family held sway over American affairs. While, it certainly was not a perfect time, it was a time of far better general morality, and far less greed among the wealthy. But, that was a direct factor of the reasonable distribution of wealth, and not because of some moral decline of Americans in general. My own knowledge of this is at least somewhat direct, as I am now 71 years old and was born and raised during those times, and have lived through the continuing decline of the middle class and American civilization. It is NOT the fault of any particular political party nor administration. Unfortunately, I do not have the answer in how to slow this down, let alone correct it. But then , neither do the ultra conservatives on this site either!!
Then. there is that other point that the ultra conservatives just love to harp upon. And that is the moral decline of our society. Which is indeed an actual event in our lives. It is in the reason why this is happening that we have different views. The ultra conservatives inevitably blame this on the people themselves (or even worse, Satan, or some other outside influence). The reason is greatly (but not always entirely, nothing is ever 100% in human affairs) due to the economic reality that it is now almost utterly impossible to maintain the so-called nuclear family. That is a family where one wage earner (still usually the husband) works for enough wages and benefits to assure a reasonable living for his/her family. Now, it takes (as you stated) both parents usually working at multiple jobs just to have the basics of living in our civilization.
This has now been going on for at least one, and even probably two generations. And leaves the children largely alone as latch key kids, with practically no supervision in growing up to be reasonable law abiding adults. And so, we have this general decrease in morality, which is to a great extent directly due to the decline of the middle class, and the almost total upward movement of wealth in this country!!!
The greatest proof of this lies in the almost worshipful attitudes of both the left and the right for the time from about the mid 1930’s through the mid 1970’s, when the middle class was actually growing and the nuclear family held sway over American affairs. While, it certainly was not a perfect time, it was a time of far better general morality, and far less greed among the wealthy. But, that was a direct factor of the reasonable distribution of wealth, and not because of some moral decline of Americans in general. My own knowledge of this is at least somewhat direct, as I am now 71 years old and was born and raised during those times, and have lived through the continuing decline of the middle class and American civilization. It is NOT the fault of any particular political party nor administration. Unfortunately, I do not have the answer in how to slow this down, let alone correct it. But then , neither do the ultra conservatives on this site either!!