February 13, 2024
The Awfulness of Elite Hypocrisy on Marriage
“Is it morally wrong to have a baby outside of marriage?” “No” is the answer I received from about two-thirds of my sociology-of-family class at the University of Virginia last spring, when I put that question to them in an anonymous online poll. The class of approximately 200 students was diverse geographically, racially, and ethnically. But…
February 12, 2024
Get Married: Why Americans Must Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families, and Save Civilization
Fewer Americans are getting married and starting families, and that is a bad sign for the country. That’s because nothing matters more for the pursuit of happiness and the health of the American Dream than strong and stable marriages. In his new book, Get Married: Why Americans Must Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families, and Save…
February 9, 2024
Don’t Buy the Soulmate Myth
Taylor Swift’s hit song “Lover” is the perfect anthem for this Valentine’s Day, especially since she is in the midst of a very public romance with her latest boyfriend, Travis Kelce. “There’s a dazzling haze, a mysterious way about you,” she sings to her “magnetic force of a man.” This gets the start of a…
January 12, 2024
What is the Utah “Family Miracle”?
I’ve written before about the “Utah Family Miracle,” referencing the fact that no state in America has more families headed by married parents than the Beehive State: “In 2021, 55% of adults in Utah (ages 18-55) were married and 82% of its children were living in married-couple families. This compares to a national average of 45% of…
January 2, 2024
We Can Make Chicago Safer By Prioritizing Stronger Families
It was a cold winter morning in 2021 when my youngest son ducked into a local gas station to grab a snack before heading to work. As he came out and entered his car, a gunman approached, yanked on his door, pointed a gun at him and commanded him to give up his car. My…
December 15, 2023
Pro-Family Policy Priorities for States
Introduction America’s system of federalism means that the is- sues that most directly impact the lives of parents and families are often most appropriately dealt with at the state level. While many conversations about how to make family life more affordable and achiev- able in the U.S. tend to focus on the federal tax code,…
December 13, 2023
Stronger Families, Safer Streets
The debate about how best to respond to urban crime—a debate that has become more important in light of recent increases in violent crime and homicide in many cities across America—has tended to focus on two perspectives. The first prioritizes tackling the “social structural factors” (unemployment, economic inequality, poverty, etc.) that are thought to be…
December 11, 2023
How to make smartphones and apps safer for kids
“These are first-of-their-kind bills in the United States,” Utah Gov. Spencer Cox said in March at the signing of SB152, which required social media companies operating in Utah to age-verify users and obtain explicit parental consent for users under the age of 18 to open an account. “That’s huge that Utah is leading out in this…
December 5, 2023
The Ninth Annual American Family Survey: Perceptions and Realities of Issues Families Face Today
When it comes to the most important challenges families face today, the public has ideas about how the economy, family structure, health, and other issues rank—but these perceptions don’t always match what the public reports as the biggest issues for their own families. The ninth annual American Family Survey delves into the experiences of American…
December 1, 2023
Red States Can Lead the Way on Marriage and Fatherhood
“If we care about our children, if we care about the vibrancy of our communities, we have no choice but to have the conversation” about absent fatherhood, said Chris Sprowls, who served as a prosecutor in Florida before going on to become speaker of the state house in 2020. In his work on cases involving gangs…