The fact that marriage in America is on the decline is concerning, but very few people understand how deep that problem goes.

Recent data shows the dismal marriage numbers in the United States.

The percentage of married couples, average age at which couples are marrying, and the number of children are all in catastrophic decline.

The numbers represent a dramatic collapse in the institution that serves as the foundation for successful civilizations.

Conservatives will often place the blame on a lack of individual virtue, and there's plenty of truth to that claim.

But the most important factors are baked into the structure of our society in a manner that Republicans are terrified

to address.

When a movement refers to itself as conservative, you think that the preservation of marriage

would be its top priority. However, when marriage does receive any attention from conservative

pundits and politicians, it's in the form of glibid

vice directed at young men telling them to get out of their parents' basement and stop playing

video games. Part of the marriage problem is certainly the lack of initiative on the part of

young males, but this is also the easiest and most cowardly attempt to explain away the issue.

Our culture encourages placing the blame on young men, who are one of the few groups that can

be attacked without consequence. The real answer requires taking on far more sacred cows.

When conservatives are feeling a little more adventurous, they'll admit that some aspects of our

economy are antithetical to family

formation. The fact that the average age of the first time homeowner is now pushing past 40

signals how difficult achieving stability for young families has become. College is now required

for even the most entry-level jobs, and the cost keeps exploding, consuming the capital

that once went to starter homes.

The costs of health care and food continue to skyrocket so that most households require

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