Nathalie Bowman
I received an email this morning that caught my attention. It was from Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse of the Ruth Institute, which works to defend and heal the natural family. The email explained that the United States Census Bureau “is in the process of removing questions about marriage from its surveys.” and “According to the Washington Examiner:
“Members of Congress and agencies rely on demographic data to shape policy. Marriage has been declining, and the presence of single mothers is among the largest factors in the growth of entitlement programs.
But the government soon may have no idea how marriage is changing in America and how it is linked to the well-being of children and adults. The American Community Survey is sent yearly to a small fraction of Americans and goes into more detail than the once-every-ten-years Census, which sticks to basics and to which all Americans must respond.”
Marriage does matter. Marriage, where children are secure with one mother and one father, creates the ideal arrangement for those children to grow up within the bonds of love, learning trust, overcoming challenges, and being the best they can be. Social science data shows that crime, addiction, and abuse are more prevalent among children and youth raised by single parent families and broken homes.
If the US Census chooses to eliminate questions about marriage, all sexual partnerships will be classified as “intimate relationships” or “roommates”. The state of California has already eliminated the term “husband” and “wife” from its legal documents. Are we ready for that to begin on the national level? Removing marriage questions from the census surveys could possibly lead the country in the direction California has already arrived.
Furthermore, how is data to be collected for understanding the importance of “marriage” and its impact on society if it doesn’t exist? There will be little data to gather if all adult relationships are classified under the terms “intimate partners” or “roommates”.
The US Census Bureau will be making the decision on this soon. You can help. Send an email to Jennifer Jessup, who will be receiving comments about this issue. She is likely only expecting to hear from other government bureaucrats, not concerned citizens who value the institute of marriage. Her email address is: jjessup@doc.gov. Let’s surprise her with a flood of emails. You can find a sample email here, or write your own.
“The comment period on these changes closes on December 30, 2014. They are seriously not expecting you or me to notice what they are about to do, over a holiday.” explained Dr. Morse in the email I received this morning. Take just a moment and send an email to the US Census Bureau. Make an impact in a small, but tremendously important way.