Nothing to see here, comrades.
The shrinkage in the marriage market is but a symptom.
“Most American women hope to marry but current shortages of marriageable men–men with a stable job and a good income–make this increasingly difficult, especially in the current gig economy of unstable low-paying service jobs,” explains lead author Dr. Daniel T. Lichter of Cornell University, in a media release. “Marriage is still based on love, but it also is fundamentally an economic transaction. Many young men today have little to bring to the marriage bargain, especially as young women’s educational levels on average now exceed their male suitors.”
It’s like there’s a dire shortage of adults. Oh yeah, there is.
We are losing crucial emotional and mental capacities for self-reflection, for wandering thought, for the ability to tolerate boredom. And that is the very definition of being a child — all id, out of control, demanding and needy and dependent. It’s poisoned our politics and our personhood, the terrible irony is this: Only we can fix it.
Correction: only the long, slow passage of time or war will fix this. Neither of these articles mentioned anything beyond the symptoms of the decline. The authors are likely incapable of understanding the root causes. They will fix nothing. Indeed, the fix is in. Like a plan or something.
