Tuesday, April 16, 2013

Dalrock Twice Strikes Gold

I have mentioned the blogger Dalrock before.  Besides dealing with statistics about marriage and divorce reasonably well, he is also very observant.  He recently wrote two noteworthy essays.

First, he noticed that America has moved from a marriage-based definition of family to a child-support-based definition of family.  This is discouraging men to marry.

There are some benefits.  For example, very few children now starve, for no fault of their own, because they were born socially illegitimate.  But the new system will ultimately hurt everyone because it will shrink the economy as men lose motivation to develop enough earning ability to support anyone besides themselves.  (And society cannot automatically and indefinitely afford child support for children born out of wedlock, as nice as that dream is.)

Second, Dalrock noticed that Americans have flipped an old script:
Instead of seeing marriage as the moral context to pursue romantic love and sex, romantic love is now seen as the moral place to experience sex and marriage.
I would go further than his claim.  Marriage is what makes romance healthy and productive, as well as moral.  Only those who have never read literary classics would be surprised that "following your heart" usually leads to grief and disaster.  People who embrace being moonstruck become destitute poets or bitter old bachelors/spinsters.

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Why I Love My Wife - Reason 19

(I have not blogged in almost a month.  I got busy, then sick.  But this series is still not done!  My initial intention was daily posts during February until I ran out of things to share, written in the evenings when I have to blog.  But it turns out that blogging about why you love your wife during the cold months of Winter leads to lots of trading massages by the fireplace after the kids are asleep.  I can't say no to that to blog!)

19. We have compatible temperaments.

We both desire a home that has peace, quiet, and calm.  We go on outings to provide ourselves with challenge, noise, excitement, or drama.

We are both romantic, but certainly not "hopeless romantics".

We both rest by spending time alone reading, yet become restless if we do not spend other time with friends.

We both enjoy the things we have without feeling a drive to get newer or flashier things.