American Families?

     We don't recommend the book Hillbilly Elegy, by J.D. Vance in 2016. But we came across a couple pages, 228-229, that might interest you. 

     "By almost any measure, American working-class families experience a level of instability unseen else anywhere elsewhere in the world. Consider, for instance, Mom's revolving door of father figures. No other country experiences anything like this. In France (troubled in 2026) the percentage of children exposed to three or more maternal partners is 0.5 percent - about one in two hundred. 

     "The second highest share is 2.6 percent, in Sweden. In the United States, the figure is a shocking 8.2 percent - about one in twelve - and the figure is even higher in the working class. The most depressing part is that relationship instability, like home chaos, is a vicious cycle. As socialists found, a 'growing body of literature suggests that children who experience multiple transitions in family structure may fare worse developmentally than children raised in stable two-parent families, and perhaps even than children raised in stable, single-parent families.' 

     "For many kids, the first impulse is to escape, but people who lurch toward the exit rarely choose the right door. Out of the frying pan into the fire. Chaos begets chaos. Instability begets instability. Welcome to family life for the American hillbilly. 

     "For me, understanding my past and knowing that I wasn't doomed gave me the hope and fortitude to deal with the demons of my youth." 

     Yours truly received an Ohio State degree in five years. Vance did it in two years, extra courses, all A's, while working two jobs and wearing his military boots. I admit he is better qualified to be our Vice President. 

     Many notable people - 50 in all - wrote praise of Vance's book. I can't recommend the foul language of the first half of the book, the Hillbellies, so we'll leave it there.  

        Jimmy