Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Sen. Barack Obama’s speech to Apostolic Church of God in the South Side of Chicago, Father’s Day, June 15, 2008.
in part
"But if we are honest with ourselves, we’ll admit that too many fathers are also missing. Too many fathers are M.I.A. Too many fathers are AWOL, missing from too many lives and too many homes. They have abandoned their responsibilities. They’re acting like boys instead of men. And the foundations of our family have suffered because of it.
You and I know this is true everywhere, but nowhere is it more true than in the African-American community. We know that more than half of all black children live in single-parent households, half, a number that has doubled – doubled – since we were children. We know the statistics – that children who grow up without a father are five times more likely to live in poverty and commit crime. They’re nine times more likely to drop out of schools, twenty times more likely to end up in prison. They are more likely to have behavioral problems, or run away from home, or become teenage parents because the father wasn’t in the home. The foundations of our community are weaker because of it..."
We know that children raised in a single parent environment are less educated, make more money, and commit crimes at much higher rates than those raised in a 2 parent family. Every study has shown us this is true and the differences are noticeable.
I think the number one problem in the U.S. is the number of children born to people who can't or won't love and care for them properly -- and the women who choose to have child after child that they can't afford without government assistance are every bit as much to blame as the men who take advantage of such women. (Even, though, granted "taking advantage" is not always the case -- and not by a long shot! I am firmly convinced that in most cases of never-married "single mothers* on government assistance", it is a matter of both parents, it is a matter of stupid, impulsive, irresponsible people putting their sexual needs above any other consideration.)
Yes, I am a conservative and I realize that the above is NOT a "compassionate" liberal viewpoint, but I am no way ashamed in having that viewpoint, and I just wish more people would share it instead of continuing to promote the idea that promiscuity is just fine. (But that is not to say that I think that children should suffer for the mistakes of their parents, and I believe that as strongly as any of my other beliefs.)
*I refuse to say "birthing parents". For me, that was the last straw as far as trying to use woke terminology! I refuse to cater to such stupidity any longer.
People have been talking about fatherless homes and single parent homes for ages. Obama isn't the first. Cosby isn't the first. The persons contributing to the problem aren't going to listen. The persons responsible aren't going to listen, they don't care.
I suppose it depends on the Father, but on average I'd say an infant is much better off when a Father is present to help with the child raising. Our government safety net should be targeted to favor that outcome. Is it the number one problem affecting America today? I'd have gone with opioid addiction.
People have been talking about fatherless homes and single parent homes for ages. Obama isn't the first. Cosby isn't the first. The persons contributing to the problem aren't going to listen. The persons responsible aren't going to listen, they don't care.
Who's fault is it?
Because Blacks in the 1950s-60s (when they were oppressed) had less single family households and better parenting.
People have been talking about fatherless homes and single parent homes for ages. Obama isn't the first. Cosby isn't the first. The persons contributing to the problem aren't going to listen. The persons responsible aren't going to listen, they don't care.
Dan Quayle was right after all with some exceptions.
Long story short, a long term marriage is the greatest anti-poverty tool mankind has ever devised, and the elites still overwhelmingly do just that, while since 1960 the poor have been encouraged not to.
Because Blacks in the 1950s-60s (when they were oppressed) had less single family households and better parenting.
Back in the 50's and 60's*, "unwed motherhood" (as it was called then) was still a matter of shame.
Now I am certainly not suggesting that we return to the era of Scarlet A's and stoning people for fornication and stigmatizing the children of such women -- but the idea that it is absolutely fine for single women to give birth to children is something that I do not agree with, and I never have.
Now that being said, however, I am not saying that any single woman who finds herself pregnant should automatically be forced to have an abortion or give the baby up for adoption -- I still absolutely believe that should be her choice whether or not to do so -- but I am saying that the idea that single women who have child after child that she cannot support on her own should not be supported in this by society -- and neither should the men who are responsible for fathering those children.
*For most of that decade, anyway, until the "free love" movement and Cosmopolitan magazine under the direction of Helen Gurley Brown (which I willingly admit that I enjoyed when I was in my 20's, btw) became popular.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
