Re: the 'assult on family', and the 'downfall of the traditional role of marriage', you can dress that one up any way you want - it comes from a mindset that procreation is a duty and human beings are stock-farm animals.

That sounds great, Kevin, except that the species cannot survive unless people procreate. I'm reminded of Deming's famous line on a different topic: "You don't have to do this. Survival is optional". ;-) Luckily many/most human beings have both the ability and the desire to have kids without believing that this makes them stock-farm animals. That's something that society should be protecting and rewarding IMHO.

Re: "families with mom and dad do better overall". That's a huge generalization. I don't doubt that many sincerely believe it's true. But I don't. My wife and I grew up separately watching our fathers abuse our mothers, either physically or emotionally. My two cents...every family is different.

The plural of "anecdote" is not "data". I'm sorry to hear your anecdote, but the overall statistics tell a different story. In fact, some stats suggest that even where there is abuse, the kids do better than in an otherwise similar solo parent environment.

I must hasten to add that some solo parents do a sterling job. There's at least one here who I'm sure is a fantastic parent. But add in a few thousand others and a trend emerges.

Finally, I'm sure I don't have to remind you of the "antics" (or escapades) of many so-called family-oriented conservatives.

Perhaps Conservatives have a stronger drive to procreate, meaning they'll survive on Earth after the liberals are all in heaven. ;-)