Is Marriage Modern Enough?

It isn't enough that married couples already get the advantages in today's society. They get gifts for getting each other, they get a big party after the wedding, they even get tax breaks - just for getting married. If you're more likely to spend your weekend getting a headache than getting a husband (wait...what's the difference, again?), then you're almost frowned upon. Pairing up has always been forced upon us.

Survival of the fittest depends on it. But the days of hunting and gathering in the wilderness are long gone, and procreating is no longer all-important to continuing the species. It's pretty well set that humans are going to populate the earth by this point, with or without every single's contribution.

And so we singles have been something like second-class citizens for years, especially as we creep upward toward thirty (and beyond). "Oh, you aren't married yet?" say our old High School pals. "Seeing anyone special, dear?" asks your mother, for the fiftieth time...this month. And, of course, "When are you going to start having kids?" After all, everyone else is married.

But, oh no! Everyone else is, indeed, not. I said it would happen, and now it has finally happened. Married couples are the minority. And it's we singles who now rule. I guess that means we can expect our tax breaks any day, now.

A new survey data set dreamed up by the U.S. Census, the American Community Survey, compiles data regarding US homes, such as income, race, age, marital status, etc. The new data, released just this August, compiled the year 2005. Predictably, married couples have now moved out of the way for majority leaders, the singles. Pat yourselves on the back - you've finally managed to take over.

Yes, that's right. According to the American Community Survey, out of 111.1 million households, only 55.2 million of these contain married couples. That's exactly 49.7% - and that's the sound of victory. Singles carried the year, and happily it's us who now outnumber them. Start practicing your withering looks of pity and get ready to smile politely - "Oh, you're still married? Well, don't worry, you'll find your singledom soon."

Haven't we been putting up with something similar for years?

What does it all mean? Is the American family in decline, as The New York Times might have us believe? (It's Official: To Be Married Means to Be Outnumbered, October 15, 2006, Sunday, By Sam Roberts (NYT); National Desk) Is the American family in danger? Shouldn't we...shouldn't we do something about this!?

Despite all the propaganda that's circulating the Internet and the media, it's not that big of a deal. I consider it to be fair shake after married couples have been outnumbering singles for so long - bound to happen some time, right? As large, metropolitan areas continue to swell with people, more and more opt for the single lifestyle. Big-city conditions are often small and cramped, less than ideal for raising a family or even trying to be in love with another human being. Singles are notably outnumbering married couples in many metro areas, because who the hell can make a relationship work in a cramped one-bedroom affair with shoddy plumbing? You want to help the American family? Help the American housing - numbers will improve dramatically.

With more than fifty million American households still boasting married couples, marriage as an institution is not at all in trouble. It's not even, really, going through a slump right now. It's just no longer the most popular choice.