Statistically speaking, today is the biggest travel day of the entire year in America. Everyone has someplace to go on the day before Thanksgiving. For most people, that place will be a place with family. Whether you are driving to Grandma’s house with the kids, flying back to your parents’ house from college, or visiting your aging great aunt at her retirement home, I hope you will join me in reflecting on the importance of the family. I’m not talking about your specific family; I mean the traditional nuclear family structure with a father and a mother raising their children.
We should all be thankful for the family. God knew exactly what he was doing when He designed every child to need a mother and a father to come into existence. Children with a loving mother and father in the same home are more likely to do well in school, to stay out of trouble with the law, and to grow into responsible citizens. Though studies have tried, the true depth to which parents influence their children is beyond measure.
Communist nations see this influence as a threat, which is why they try to destroy the family time and again. Under Chairman Mao’s rule in China, the communists tried to replace the nuclear family with large communes. These communes forced all children into government care centers and replaced family meals with communal kitchens where food was rationed for all. Rather than increasing food production, these communes resulted in the biggest famine in world history. Though the communists have worked hard to hide the death totals, anywhere from 30 to 55 million people died. By comparison, one million died from the Irish Potato Famine.
When you look back at history, it is easy to see that strong societies need to have strong families. Only the traditional nuclear family can provide the stability and virtue that children so desperately need. Policies favoring the family in taxes, regulations, employment, and of course family law, are policy objectives worth defending. As you sit down at the Thanksgiving dinner table tomorrow, be thankful you live in a nation where the institution of the family is still protected.
