Families Fix More Than You Think

Added: 2026-06-03

[00:00:00]Where do we get our sense of values?

[00:00:03]Where do we get our sense of gratitude for our faith, for our country, for our neighbors even if we disagree with them politically? From the family that we grow up in. What we're saying, not saying at Heritage, is that everyone needs to have the perfect family. We're saying that for too long policy makers, especially in Washington, have not only ignored this, they've actually contributed to the problem. There are scores of disincentives in federal safety net programs, federal welfare programs, toward marriage. At the very least, we need to reverse those. But what we're positing at Heritage is that the time has come because the birth rate has gotten so low, so far below replacement, that we might need to incentivize marriage in the way other countries have done.

[00:00:47]Hungary has had mixed results. Israel actually has had the best results in seeing in that investment of the public's money in incentivizing marriage and births, at least a slight increase in the rates of both. That's what we need to do in this country. I actually think if we can do that, although it will take a a couple of generations to see the full benefit, that you're going to see some of these other problems dissipate, whether they be immigration or for that matter, education.