The Beatles told us: “All you need is love.”
They were right, but along with love must come marriage.
But marriage rates have plummeted, especially among young men.
A Pulitzer Prize-worthy story by Sean Salai of The Washington Times crunches all the numbers. To say they are worrisome would be a vast understatement:
n In 2025, nearly twice as many men ages 18 to 39 were unmarried as were married.
n There were 30.4 million unmarried men ages 18 to 39 in 2025, up 47% from 20.7 million in 2000.
n In the same period, married men in this age range dropped by 15%, from 18.1 million to 15.4 million.
“Such men are more likely to be lonely, prone to deaths of despair and unhappy,” according to Brad Wilcox, a University of Virginia sociologist.
n Forty-two percent of working-class men are unmarried, according to educational psychologist Donna R. Turner. In 1980, 73% of working-class men were married.
I could go on and with these depressing statistics. But I believe the decline in marriage and children is a threat to the American future much more dangerous than even the national debt, climate change, cancer or foreign aggression.
Family is the essential organizing unit in America. We’re not to...