On the other hand, I am also "pro-marriage," and this includes gay marriage. As noted earlier this year in a New York Times article entitled "For Women Under 30, Most Births Occur Outside Marriage" (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/18/us/for-women-under-30-most-births-occur-outside-marriage.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0) by Jason DeParle and Sabrina Tavernise, "more than half of births to American women under 30 occur outside marriage." As further observed by this article:
"The shift is affecting children’s lives. Researchers have consistently found that children born outside marriage face elevated risks of falling into poverty, failing in school or suffering emotional and behavioral problems."
These statistics concerning unwed births necessarily tie into unemployment, crime and America's national debt. Much akin to the trend in national debt, this trend involving unwed births is unsustainable.
In her latest New York Times op-ed entitled "Romney Is President" (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/11/opinion/sunday/dowd-romney-is-president.html?_r=0), Maureen Dowd states:
"In its delusional death spiral, the white male patriarchy was so hard core, so redolent of country clubs and Cadillacs, it made little effort not to alienate women. The election had the largest gender gap in the history of the Gallup poll, with Obama winning the vote of single women by 36 percentage points."
However, Dowd fails to observe that 53% of married women voted for Romney (see: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-20231337).
So why the difference between single women and married women? Are single women so much smarter than married women? I don't think so, but please don't go asking my wife, who has had to suffer my tomfoolery for almost 30 years.
A delusional death spiral involving white male patriarchy? Well, this would not be my choice of words, and I think Dowd has gotten it only half right. As reported by USA Today in May of this year (http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2012-05-17/minority-births-census/55029100/1):
"Hispanics, blacks, Asians and other minorities in 2011 accounted for 50.4% of births, 49.7% of all children under 5 and slightly more than half of the 4 million kids under 1, the Census Bureau reports today."
Or in other words, an entirely different electorate is taking shape in the United States. The relative number of white voters will decline; however, I doubt that issues involving gender will heavily influence future elections.
Are Republicans so out of tune with this ongoing metamorphosis? I suggest that Maureen ask Susana Martinez, Bobby Jindal and Marco Rubio.
Like Dowd, am I pleased by the outcome of this election? Hardly. Two narcissists spent billions of campaign dollars without advancing a concrete plan how to remedy the American economy. Neither man addressed America's involvement in Afghanistan. Neither man was willing to oppose without qualification the sale of assault rifles.
America is in an uncontrolled economic tailspin, and this election represented a travesty and tragedy of unimagined proportions. Short-term pleasure continues to come at the expense of long-term benefits. I want to be surprised, but I don't see Obama, who lacks leadership and managerial qualities, avoiding an inevitable crash.
