Home Free
on Families as the Province of Liberty
The "heteronormative" family, currently an object of frequent ridicule, is in fact a necessary foundation for progress, democracy, and ordered liberty. This is particularly so for Americans.
Visiting the still-young United States in the 1830s, the German traveler Francis J. Grund found a land characterized by "early marriage," "the sanctity of the marriage vow," many children, and "domestic happiness." Indeed, he argued that these family virtues were the "principal source" of successful democratic governance here. "The American Constitution is remarkable for its simplicity," Grund noted, requiring "a people habitually correct" in their home lives. Take that away, and the American experiment in free society would fail.
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Allan C. Carlson is the author of numerous books, including Family Questions: Reflections on the American Social Crisis and The American Way: Family and Community in the Shaping of the American Identity. He attends St. Paul Lutheran Church in Rockford, Illinois. He is a senior editor of Touchstone.
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more on family from the online archives
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Today's Culture Wars Are Both Ancient & Modern by Allan C. Carlson
33.2—March/April 2020
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