“Those who think freedom is worth preserving should be concerned about the health of the family,” said Ruth Institute President Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse, Ph.D.
“A free society needs the family. Specifically, we need mothers and fathers to help their children grow up to have a conscience and the ability to control themselves. This was the theme of my first book, Love and Economics: It Takes a Family to Raise a Village.”
Love and Economics was published in 2001 to critical acclaim among social conservatives and religious believers. Fr. James Schall, long-time professor of government at Georgetown University, included it on his list of “20 Books that Awaken the Mind.”
“Unfortunately,” Morse continued, “very few people got the point: kids need secure attachments with their moms and dads. Without secure attachments, kids grow up without a conscience. People without consciences do whatever they think they can get away with. In other words, they become sociopaths.”
“A free society simply cannot manage a large number of sociopaths. The problems I predicted: rising crime, increasing mental illness, and rising governmental spending to try to control it all, have only increased since 2001.”
“Our nation and the family will rise or fall together. Without strong families, you can’t have a strong economy. A strong free economic system relies on most people keeping their promises and fulfilling their contracts. A free political system relies on people voluntarily restraining themselves from using their freedom to hurt other people.”
“Helpless babies don’t automatically grow up to be that kind of person. They need secure attachments with their parents to grow up to be adults with self-control.”
“Men and women are encouraged to enlist in the armed forces knowing that they’re protecting their families,” Morse added. “Yet today we live in a culture where marriage is on the decline, and that doesn’t bode well for maintaining our independence. Failure of family formation affects all of us.”
“Related to the decline of marriage is the fall of fertility,” Morse remarked. “America’s fertility rate – the number of children the average woman will have – is now well-below replacement level. At 1.7, it’s the lowest in our history.”
“Where will the workers of the future come from in a nation where fewer are born each year? Our national defense depends on an adequate pool of young men willing and able to serve.”
“Even though our society relies on strong families, there are forces working to undermine them. From it-takes-a-village to the president insisting ‘Our nation’s children are all our children,’ we are moving away from parental rights toward social parenting. In so doing, we are making it harder for families to raise responsible adults.”
“Freedom, prosperity, and independence are all bound up with the fate of the family,” Morse observed. “Tomorrow marks the anniversary of our independence. Besides celebrating our history and American exceptionalism, we should focus on the factors that have kept us free and prosperous for 247 years, first and foremost among them, the family.”
About the Ruth Institute
The Ruth Institute is a global non-profit organization, leading an international interfaith coalition to defend the family and build a civilization of love.
Jennifer Roback Morse has a Ph.D. in economics and has taught at Yale and George Mason University. She is the author of The Sexual State and Love and Economics – It Takes a Family to Raise a Village.
To schedule an interview with Dr. Morse, contact media@ruthinstitute.org.
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