by Angela S. Young

Created on: August 23, 2008   Last Updated: October 05, 2010

For over 200 years, family values have been the backbone of this nation. It was in keeping our families strong that we kept our country strong. Today, we have ever-eroding families and an ever eroding country. Are the two linked? I believe they are.

As the 20th and 21st centuries have progressed, the family has changed exponentially. No longer black and white, the definitions of what makes "family" have changed. Along with that change, or maybe because of it, our morals have also gone into a decline.

A few decades ago, our country made it easier for people to divorce through no-fault divorce legislation. Now people can walk away for any reason at all, and so many of them do. Marriage is hard. I know this by experience, but so many people lose out on that love that comes only after weathering the storms together, because they can and do give up too easily when the storms rage.

Many today think nothing of moving in together before marriage and having children before marriage. In some ways this is still a "family", but the lack of moral restraint has changed into more of something resembling a family than an actual family. There is no commitment. There is no moral compunction. There are no guidelines to help them understand why this damages our society.

As the homosexual agenda makes headway, we also face the idea of families that have two dads or two moms. For some of us, this is also a moral decline. Some of society no longer sees marriage as one man and one woman; they have embraced the homosexual relationship as "normal", thus sending the family into a further tailspin.

If we want to save our country, we need to start by saving our families. Family Values deserve to sit at the top of the agenda in each presidential candidate. We should ask questions to determine whether they will reinforce family values or participate in the continued slippery slope of disintegrating families.  The research consistently shows that families that have a mom, a dad and their children fare better than others.  So many have two or more families as divorce rips through more and more families, leaving the children with little example of what a family can be and forcing them to divide loyalties between two or even more family units.  This writer has seen the devastation this often brings.

The protection of the family unit within a country can be likened to protecting the elements within an atom. Each of those units, protons, neutrons, electrons, and whatever else is in there have a basic function that helps keep that cell healthy. We all know what happens when you split an atom: devastation. This truth applies to families as well. When families are split and destroyed due to policies that do not support family values, devastation will follow.

Our family structure, already fractured and struggling, needs politicians and lawmakers who will put them first and work toward mending the tear. By doing so, the candidate will mend our country by strengthening its support system: the family. Presidential candidates should care about family values, and they should pledge to only promote legislation that protects families, marriages and family values. Then, we will know they are truly committed to the USA.

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