Jobs and marriage

Today is Darwin Day! It is held on the birthday of Charles Darwin and celebrates science and reason.



Ricky Santorum, while speaking at CPAC, has confirmed that those in control of the GOP will be pushing issues of morality, not economics. Yeah, issues that only they care about and don't seem to play well in the rest of the country.



Conservatives frequently claim that marriage is so wonderful that if everyone would just get married already out economic and societal ills would be cured. Santorum was the latest (certainly not first or last) when he said, “Work, graduate from high school, and get married before you have children.” That's how we eliminate poverty.

Terrence Heath says the conservatives have it backwards (as they usually do). Men, especially black men, won't propose marriage until they are financially stable. Women, especially black women, won't hitch themselves to a man who has no prospects of financial stability.

Want to promote family values and save marriage? Make sure everyone has a job.

Back to Santorum's statement. There are some important questions: So what will you do as president to make sure work is available? What are you going to do about the huge percentage of black men who are incarcerated? How will you help all kids graduate from a working, well funded, high school that teaches more than how to take standardized tests?

Heath has a second part to this essay. He discusses all the things gay couples must pay extra for, things that straight couples take for granted. That money disappears into such things as unequal taxation, legal instruments that protect the family, inheritance rights, family leave for an ill spouse, and ability to live in a nursing home together. This is money that isn't going to improve standard of living or children's college fund.