Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman from Mississippi for putting this time together. And I rise today in support of National Marriage Week. In so many ways, from so many sources, marriage is under attack in America. When we consider the many social problems facing our country right now, the erosion of marriage and family is at the core of many of them. Scholar Michael Novak once famously referred to the family as the ``original Department of Health, Education, and Welfare'' because of its role in providing for the needs of all its members and, particularly, the next generation. Study after study has shown the tremendous advantages for children and society as a whole when there is a sustained presence of mothers and fathers in the home. Families in which mothers and fathers strive to nurture their children together have advantages over every other family form that has been studied to date. Today we are seeing that marriage is increasingly in trouble in America. High rates of divorce, nonmarital childbearing, and single parenthood were once problems primarily concentrated in poor communities. Now the American retreat from marriage is moving into the heart of the social order, the middle class. There is a widening gulf between the middle class, where a sharp decline in marriage is at work, and the most educated and affluent Americans, where marriage indicators are either stable or are even improving.…”