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What Lives
Matter, Really?
By Kate Burch
We were recently shocked and dismayed to learn that over the
fifteen-year period, 1999-2014, the death rate for U.S. whites, ages 45
to 54 with no more than a high school education increased by 25
percent! During the same period, death rates for the same age
range in other groups in America and other wealthy countries
declined. Economists attribute these deaths to suicides and
alcohol and drug-related causes. And read again the age
range. These are not troubled or rebellious adolescents but,
rather, people whose age range suggests that they should be settled and
stable.
What in the world is going on?
A look at, as a recent example, the vital statistics of Russia during
the long downfall and final collapse of the Soviet Union and its
aftermath, provides a clue. Over one four-year period in Russia,
the average life expectancy, of both men and women, declined by five
years, overall. For men, it reached a low of 57 years. The
years immediately following the end of World War II saw similar
catastrophic changes in health and life expectancy for European
populations.
Economic and social instability; increased abuse of alcohol and
tobacco; poor nutrition; depression; and deterioration of the health
care system are causes advanced to explain these sad realities.
Right, but to speak about an attempt to address these conditions only,
without looking for the underlying causes, is like chasing one’s
tail.
I am convinced by the thesis put forward by Charles Murray in his 2012
book, “Coming Apart” that whites in America (he intentionally focused
only on whites to avoid the confounding effects of race) have become
stratified into two classes: one successful group that endorses and
lives by the founding American values of marriage, work, education, and
religion; and another group that has failed to embrace those values and
has almost no chance of success.
I am also convinced that the root causes of this flight from virtue and
success can be laid at the feet of the cultural mavens and media
celebrities who seek to dismantle traditional norms and rules for a
normal life. They wish to eradicate gender roles and expectations
about family life that allow people to know who they are and to have an
acknowledged place in the world. They promote abortion,
euthanasia, and assisted suicide. They wage a “war on drugs” that
is totally ineffective in controlling commerce in and use of drugs, and
actually causes increased crime and death. Or they promote
ill-conceived drug-legalization schemes with far-reaching damaging
effects. They place the interests of teachers’ unions above the
welfare of children in our schools. They seek to outlaw and
punish free expression of religion and adherence to religious
edicts. Adding insult to injury, excessive regulation, licensing
laws and fees, and complicated and costly rules about compensation and
taxes make it extremely challenging for a would-be entrepreneur to
start a small business.
Those four values: marriage, work, education, and religion, are simple,
really. They underpinned our founding, and allowed the United
States to be the most successful and prosperous nation in the history
of the world. Rededicating ourselves to those values and
demanding public policy that supports them may give us a chance to get
back our game.
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