How can our society get the foundation of families and marriage back strong?

GreatBuddha: How can our society get the foundation of families and marriage back strong?
Statistically speaking marriage is way better than being single. People who are married live longer, have many tax and health benefits.

Also marriage is protected by law, being single and living together is not.

I know that many people don’t believe in marriage anymore; however, the fact still remains that marriage is best for our lives and our economy.

So how can we get marriage back strong?

Answers and Views:

Answer by Lara Croft
We can’t do anything. Marriage just isn’t for some people. Society should not force people to something they don’t want to do.

Answer by Free Thinker
Start by allowing people to get married when they want to be married, regardless of their genders. It worked great in Massachusetts, the state that now has the lowest divorce rate in the nation.

Answer by Cat Lady
Turn off the TV and get involved with your kids, your neighborhood, your community.

Answer by Rio Madeira
Making singlehood sound like a precursor to disaster isn’t going to help, I’ll say that much. And, frankly, I like that singlehood isn’t protected by law. It gives the legislature less opportunity to butt into my life.

Answer by Lawrence
Dump feminist ideas. It has created nothing but anger and problems between men and women for the past 30 years.

Answer by Ready to Go Home!
We can’t really do anything. The times and people have changed.

I also agree with Free Thinker…he makes a good point.

Answer by Sleazy P. Martini
Stop trying to force people who aren’t cut out for marriage into getting married.

Just because you’re having a kid together isn’t a good reason to marry. Most marriages that are a result of a kid being born out of wedlock end in divorce.

If sex was less stigmatized in the US (I don’t give a crap what anyone says, this is the land of promise rings and purity balls), then people wouldn’t rush into marrying someone they’re ill-suited to just because they wanna get laid and are worried they’ll go to hell otherwise.

Answer by doodlebugjimv5
Feminism has undermined the family unit for the past 40 years. If you have any instant cures for this please let us know asap.

Edit
For those who need proof of the feminist attitude towards marriage:
“The institution of marriage `protects’ women in the same way that the institution of slavery was said to `protect’ blacks–that is, that the word `protection’ in this case is simply a euphemism for oppression… Marriage is a form of slavery.” (Sheila Cronan, in Radical Feminism – “Marriage” (1970), Koedt, Levine, and Rapone, eds., HarperCollins, 1973, p. 214 & 216)

Answer by Eleanor B
Those who want to get married should be encouraged to do so – it’s right for some people. But, some people just don’t want to get married, and no amount of financial perks and incentives will make them. So it depends what you think is the reason for today’s declining interest in marriage (at it’s lowest level in Britain since the 1890s – when we had half the population).

It’s debatable whether it’s healthier – studies claim to show a longer life expectancy for married men but a shorter life expectancy for married women (although this could be due to the effects of childbirth, etc). I’m glad that cohabitating is not protected by law – if I wanted to make that commitment, I would already have married them.

You also have to ask – who is marriage best for? Every single person on the planet, or, coincidentally, the government? Couples are more economically prosperous for the government, since they provide a whole host of free care services for wider family, often work 1.5 jobs instead of two (not unemployed, but not taking up 2 full jobs – so enabling others employment in the economy.) Also only taking up one house, not two (the UK has a housing shortage) as well as possibly having children (paying future pensions, the UK is worrying about birth rates). Combine this with the rising poverty of single, working adults at a time when single households are growing to more than a quarter of all households, and I think the gov has a vested interest in ‘protecting’ marriage. But you have to wonder if imposing financial discrimination on those already at risk of poverty is particularly nice governmental policy :-).

Edit – Wos-wong – I was talking about stats that show single women live longer than married women – but explaining this may be because of other factors (such as greater rates of childbirth for married women) – rather than marriage itself causing women to have a reduced life expectancy 🙂

Answer by wos-wong-wiv-u
Interesting question and recently I read some text somewhere (?) that may cause hurdles for this ‘ideal’.

The text noted that there has never really been an ideal foundation of family and from a feminist standpoint, the nuclear family ideal, always meant that woman was and would remain subordinate in a familial relationship (man provider/woman housebound). Does this still apply to today? To promote family and marriage, in some peoples view, promotes a step backwards. There has to be an alternative co-existence solution in today’s modern world.

There also seems to be a new sense of individuality amongst human beings that does not favour a bonding process, hopefully leading onto marriage.

Things are changing and there is still the point of religion being viewed differently too.

I not sure ‘Eleanor B’ about women having less life expectancy due to childbirth, ‘etc’. Men and womens’ lives are impossible to gauge in terms of effort and exertion. Being a man I’d say working down a mine day in day out was damn hard for men, or any form of industrial work for that matter. Why don’t people consider this? Of course, now a lot of work is technologically driven. But the hours are still there to wear any man out…

Whoops, made a mistake earlier >>>> ‘subordinate’.

Answer by Blocked By Idiots AND Morons 🙂
Make it more accessible, to everyone.

And stop defining ‘families’ so narrowly.

Cheers 🙂

Answer by A Pregnant!! Christian
One family at a time, that’s how. We get married ourselves and make sure our marriages are well-tended so they flourish. We raise our kids to have a high view of marriage and encourage them to get married one day. We teach them how to be good spouses and once they get engaged, we make sure they know how to maintain their relationship. Then we trust that they will do the same as they age.

This is all we can do. We can talk to other people about marriage and encourage them not to just shack up, but ultimately people have to do it for themselves.

Answer by washington i
Allow one partner to be able to earn enough to support the whole family.

Answer by ♥The Mrs.♥
I don’t think the problem is marriage, the problem is divorce. I think there should be a tougher process to get a divorce and they should not be accepted for trivial reasons like “irreconcilable differences”.

Answer by Imposter H
Nothing. Marriage is dead for anyone using their brain. Men and women don’t trust each other enough to commit to life together at nearly the rates they used to. I’m 25 and I can attest that we are the “me first” generation. We’ve grown up with very little understanding of the definition of sacrifice. Also, we’ve grown up as children of the baby-boomers. This is the generation that gave us a 60% divorce rate. Wow, they look so happy I’ll just have to look into that marriage stuff. The truth is, the only really good reason to get married is if you want to have and raise kids. Then there is a stability advantage. Otherwise, the risks far outweigh the rewards and I think a lot of people my age would agree.

Answer by Colonel Reb
Divorce is way too easy to get. I know a guy who’s been married less than a year. His wife is getting a divorce with no input whatsoever from him. She has yet to give anybody a reason for it, but yet she is able to get one with no problem. Something is wrong with that picture.

Answer by naughty
Through love.