Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, the founder of the Ruth Institute, recently spoke at Grove City College about marriage and family and how they’re at the center of society. I’d say it this way: without enough strong marriages and families you can forget about civilization.
In her talk she addressed so many aspects of the social fabric that people by and large take for granted. Society, Morse points out, requires people who can control themselves — the development of conscience is necessary to a free society. There’s a far greater chance of kids being raised to become responsible adults in a household where there’s a healthy one man/one woman marriage.
(By the way, there are many others saying the same thing — here’s just one example: “How a country’s economy is determined by the quality of its marriages.”)
Those who think the free market is all that’s needed fail to consider that a healthy society and economy assume there will be civilized adults on the scene. When too many people have developed pathologies as a result of there being no moral foundation and no family structure, dependency upon government grows and more individuals care less about liberty. We certainly are seeing that today.
Dr. Morse’s talk explains why Judeo-Christian morality matters, why libertarians and economists are wrong to think the social issues don’t matter, and why John Adams said:
“Our Constitution was made only for a moral and religious people. It is wholly inadequate to the government of any other.”
The first video section is mostly about her background, but that info helps set the foundation for the rest of the talk.
The Introduction: the Human Person is Meant for Love: The Family as the Foundation of Personal Development:
The Family Breakdown is Expensive to the Taxpayer:
The State Intrudes into the Privacy of the Broken Home:
The Dignity of the Person and the Future of Freedom:
