Washington Times Columnist Cheryl Wetzstein interviewed me for this article on the new book Red Families v. Blue Families: Legal Polarization and the Creation of Culture. Cheryl ably summarizes the basic premise of the book:
In blue states, families tend to be well-educated, have high-paying jobs, be tolerant of diversity and be politically liberal. They marry later in life, have children in wedlock and are dedicated co-parents….
Red-state families, however, seem to be stuck in a time warp — they tend to be more strict in their religious beliefs and aspire to abstinence until marriage and marriage for life. But they often fall short of these goals: Red states have high rates of teen births, young (“shotgun”) marriages and divorce. Red-state families are also less likely to be college graduates, get top jobs or create households where husbands and wives share equally in parenting and chores.
This shows that “blue” families have adjusted to the evolution of America’s family culture, while “red” families have not, Ms. Cahn and Ms. Carbone said.
“The blue paradigm is the other end of the sexual revolution. Its families have been remade and the remaking is a huge success,” they wrote. But red families are still trying to live in bygone times, and when children fail to live up to lofty aspirations, these families bear the consequences.
Just one problem with this analysis: it only applies to the “high-end” blue state families. Lower income families who live in accordance with the sexual revolution are not a “huge success.” They are the fall-out of the sexual revolution. And the “Progressives” have absolutely nothing to say to them, or to offer them.
