The Rise of the Anti-Marriage Right

THE STATISTICS ARE STARK: Marriage in the United States is in decline, with the overall marriage rate having fallen drastically over the last half-century, reaching astonishing lows in some states. Economic pressures are, as always, a major factor in the transformation of the marriage landscape. There are cultural pressures as well—and they have tended to come from the political left. But the remaking of the American right over the last several years has mixed things up: While conservatives have traditionally defended and advocated marriage as a fundamental social institution, the battle lines are changing in significant and troubling ways.