There's probably no more baffling trend of the last 40 years than the Christian Right's embrace of neoliberal economics. I don't have much to add to this discussion but I did come across something interesting.

According to a recent report from Britain's Institute for Public Policy, British 15 year olds spend 45% of their evenings out with friends instead of their families. In France teens spend only 17% of their evenings out.

In other words, British teens spend 1/3 less time with their families than teens in "socialist" debauched France.

Furthermore, the UK and US ranked 22nd and 23rd, respectively out of 25 OECD nations in a UNICEF survey of how often 15 year-olds ate their main meal with their parents.

One would guess that "strengthening families" would entail family members actually spending time together. But its probably more complicated than the simple veil-lifting exercise many lefties wish it to be. This conflict is at the heart of the Yankee-Protestant code that extols both moral recititude and a masochistic work ethic. When these come into conflict, as they invariably do, the answer is...self-recrimination and redoubled perfection seeking. Always coming up short, the frazzled and shameful turn toward scapegoating and the politics of rage.