Catholic Men In Tough Times - Part II
Continuing from my last post, here's some additional thought about why it's such a struggle to raise a family on one salary today. You may think what I'm going to say sounds crazy, but I'll say it anyway.
First, let me preface this by saying that I don't think there's anything wrong with women in the work place. So what I'm going to say doesn't mean women shouldn't work outside the home.
But the plain fact, as we all know, is that children are better off when their mother is home with them - at least until they start going to school. And if you home school - as we did - then a woman pretty much needs to stay home all the time (unless the Dad does the teaching - an unusual though possible arrangement).
Anyway, here's the thought you might think is crazy. I think that because our society, our secular culture has been so influenced by Marxism, there's been a long-standing "push" to get women out of the home and into the workplace.
First of all, you have to understand that Marxism has found its way into Western culture. If you don't see that, none of this will make sense. but if you do understand this, then what I'm saying is simply logical.
Marx didn't like the family. He wanted the State to make decisions for children, not their parents. Anything that supported or encouraged strong families was a bad thing from Marx's point of view.
There are plenty of people in our society and in our government who think this way. And over time, they have pushed this idea that it was somehow demeaning for a woman to stay home with her kids. I'm sure you've all seen this attitude coming from women who identify themselves as "feminists." That idea ultimately finds its source in Marxism.
Interestingly, World War II provided the means to really push women into the workplace - out of necessity. Women had to lend a hand - or so it was claimed - in the factories. With all the men being drafted into the armed forces, there was need for laborers to build the weapons.
(By the way, this argument wasn't made during World War I. Women weren't pushed into the factories. Of course, the U.S. didn't fight as long in the first World War as in the second. Plus, there weren't as many soldiers involved - therefore not as many men were in the armed forces, as opposed to being available to work in factories. Oh, and there weren't as many Marxists, whether socialists or communists, in the country, and in positions of influence either.)
After the war, many women went back to being housewives. In fact, there was a big boom in births when the veterans returned home. People were having kids in greater numbers.
The claim is that women "got a taste" for working outside the home. It was said you couldn't "keep them at home" after this - so naturally, over time, more and more women wouldn't stand for being "cooped up" in the home with their kids.
I'm simplifying here (although not really over-simplifying, I think), but the important point is that this all served the Marxist agenda of getting women out of the home, ultimately either breaking down the family or making the family more reliant on the government.
The proof of this can be found in our tax system. My father, a blue-collar worker paid little in taxes compared to someone earning and equivalent salary today. FICA deductions were lower, his marginal tax rate was lower, his standard deduction was higher and the exemption for each child was much higher - relative to what he made.
Look at your paycheck now and calculate how much you pay in FICA, federal, state and local income tax. What percent of your total pay is that? Whatever it is, I'll guess it's two or three times what your father or grandfather paid.
I'm going to do more research on all this and maybe can provide more detail in future posts. The point today, though, is really to encourage.
Encourage? It probably sounds discouraging to know that all these forces are working against you providing for your family. If it does, I don't mean it to be. I just want to help you to face the world as it really is, and understand why you're feeling pressed, why you may be struggling.
And in the end, I hope that you, like me, will learn to trust more in God - ultimately to totally trust in Him. Maybe all this is happening so that we Catholic men - who've come to rely too much on our own efforts - will look to God for our sufficiency.
Maybe in the course of what seems like decades of prosperity, we've lost our way and turned our heads to the things of this world. Now God, in His infinite love and mercy, is simply trying to gently turn our heads back - back where they belong. He desires us to gaze on Him as a loving Father, to ask Him for help in raising our families, to rely on His goodness and not the "good things" of this world.
First, let me preface this by saying that I don't think there's anything wrong with women in the work place. So what I'm going to say doesn't mean women shouldn't work outside the home.
But the plain fact, as we all know, is that children are better off when their mother is home with them - at least until they start going to school. And if you home school - as we did - then a woman pretty much needs to stay home all the time (unless the Dad does the teaching - an unusual though possible arrangement).
Anyway, here's the thought you might think is crazy. I think that because our society, our secular culture has been so influenced by Marxism, there's been a long-standing "push" to get women out of the home and into the workplace.
First of all, you have to understand that Marxism has found its way into Western culture. If you don't see that, none of this will make sense. but if you do understand this, then what I'm saying is simply logical.
Marx didn't like the family. He wanted the State to make decisions for children, not their parents. Anything that supported or encouraged strong families was a bad thing from Marx's point of view.
There are plenty of people in our society and in our government who think this way. And over time, they have pushed this idea that it was somehow demeaning for a woman to stay home with her kids. I'm sure you've all seen this attitude coming from women who identify themselves as "feminists." That idea ultimately finds its source in Marxism.
Interestingly, World War II provided the means to really push women into the workplace - out of necessity. Women had to lend a hand - or so it was claimed - in the factories. With all the men being drafted into the armed forces, there was need for laborers to build the weapons.
(By the way, this argument wasn't made during World War I. Women weren't pushed into the factories. Of course, the U.S. didn't fight as long in the first World War as in the second. Plus, there weren't as many soldiers involved - therefore not as many men were in the armed forces, as opposed to being available to work in factories. Oh, and there weren't as many Marxists, whether socialists or communists, in the country, and in positions of influence either.)
After the war, many women went back to being housewives. In fact, there was a big boom in births when the veterans returned home. People were having kids in greater numbers.
The claim is that women "got a taste" for working outside the home. It was said you couldn't "keep them at home" after this - so naturally, over time, more and more women wouldn't stand for being "cooped up" in the home with their kids.
I'm simplifying here (although not really over-simplifying, I think), but the important point is that this all served the Marxist agenda of getting women out of the home, ultimately either breaking down the family or making the family more reliant on the government.
The proof of this can be found in our tax system. My father, a blue-collar worker paid little in taxes compared to someone earning and equivalent salary today. FICA deductions were lower, his marginal tax rate was lower, his standard deduction was higher and the exemption for each child was much higher - relative to what he made.
Look at your paycheck now and calculate how much you pay in FICA, federal, state and local income tax. What percent of your total pay is that? Whatever it is, I'll guess it's two or three times what your father or grandfather paid.
I'm going to do more research on all this and maybe can provide more detail in future posts. The point today, though, is really to encourage.
Encourage? It probably sounds discouraging to know that all these forces are working against you providing for your family. If it does, I don't mean it to be. I just want to help you to face the world as it really is, and understand why you're feeling pressed, why you may be struggling.
And in the end, I hope that you, like me, will learn to trust more in God - ultimately to totally trust in Him. Maybe all this is happening so that we Catholic men - who've come to rely too much on our own efforts - will look to God for our sufficiency.
Maybe in the course of what seems like decades of prosperity, we've lost our way and turned our heads to the things of this world. Now God, in His infinite love and mercy, is simply trying to gently turn our heads back - back where they belong. He desires us to gaze on Him as a loving Father, to ask Him for help in raising our families, to rely on His goodness and not the "good things" of this world.
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