ABSTRACT
Though family failure may put money in the pockets of twenty-first-century Mandevillians, its consequences trouble most ordinary Americans. Children–abused, depressed, sick, suicidal, mired in poverty, addicted to drugs, seduced by crime. Women–abused, depressed, sick, mired in poverty, stressed, fearful of crime. Men–alienated, angry and confused, sick, suicidal, addicted to drugs, prone to violence and crime. The catalogue of Americans trapped in pathologies traceable to the national retreat from family life has grown long and sobering. And unfortunately, that retreat from family life continues. Marriage and marital fertility rates have fallen to historic lows while rates for illegitimacy, divorce, and cohabitation are running very high. Most Americans see the destructive dynamic at work, one responsible for ever more distress and heartache. However, whenever serious discussion begins about how to halt or even reverse this destructive dynamic, a peremptory metaphor intrudes, cutting off the discussion and fostering a sense of resignation and fatalism.
