Michael Medved’s spin on a recent Pew study on marriage has special resonance for me today. In case you missed the articles in The Washington Post and elsewhere in previous weeks, here’s a quick recap: Based on the Pew study, even left-leaning columnists began to profess themselves concerned about the decline of marriage and the family (primarily because they fret the marriage gap will increase the income inequality gap). But in a brief response at Townhall.com, Medved puts the kibosh on the idea that marriage is dead:
The most publicized conclusion featured the information that only a “bare majority”—some 51 percent—of Americans 18 or older are currently married, compared to 72 percent some 50 years ago. But this one figure hides the real cause of the decline: the fact that people today wait longer to tie the knot.
Most people still plan on marriage and value it -including big majorities of the only 28% who have never married. Even the age at first marriage hasn’t changed as radically as reported: the median for males in 1890 was 26, and, 120 years later, it’s 28.
Medved calls for “a more honest accounting” of the numbers among mainstream reporters and calls marriage “the desired, normative goal for most Americans.”
Incidentally, I’m proof of that (and thanks for indulging this revelation): As of today, I’m engaged!
