Exactly who are these “Millennial” people?

The Pew Research Foundation released a cross-country telephone survey in the last year that perhaps many in the North Dakota Legislature should read. It tells the tale of what today’s “Millennials” (defined as the population born after 1980) think, and how they view modern society’s values regarding marriage and raising children.

First and foremost, Millennials do not link having children with marriage. At least, not always and certainly not for everyone. Today’s young adult Millennial, according to the surveys they took, remaining motherhood, one is not necessary for the “other” to be balanced or even in their future. In fact, according to a 2010 Pew Research survey, Millennial people aged 18 to 29 value parenthood far more than they value marriage. Survey results showed 52 percent of Millennials felt “being a good parent is one of the most important things in life,” while only 30 percent felt having a successful marriage was equally as important. That’s a pretty large percentage point gap. Yet in 1997 the very same question was asked of 18- to 29-year olds and the results for today’s’ “Gen Xer’s” showed only a 7 percentage point difference in their feelings about whether having a child was as important as having a happy and successful marriage. In 1997, of “Gen Xer’s” aged 18 to 29 years old, 42 percent surveyed said they believed being a good parent was one of the most important aspects in their lives, creating a seven-point spread with 35 percent who believed having a successful marriage was as important as being a good parent.

“Get Me to the Church” No Longer a Top Hit

The Pew Research surveys also found that far fewer Millennials age 30 and over believe a child needs to grow up in a home with both a mom and a dad in order to grow up happy and adjusted. Nor do they buy into the traditionalist thinking that single parenthood and/or unmarried couples are bad for society. As the saying goes, “the proof is in the pudding,” and today’s young Millennials are not rushing off to the altar of “I do’s” in droves by any means. Just 22 percent of Millennials are presently married today, while at the same age their counterparts of older generations were making it to wedding chapels and churches at a much faster pace. Three in ten Gen Xer’s were already married at the same age as many of today’s Millennials who remain single. Compare those figures with the Baby Boomers, who were getting married by a margin of four in ten, and the “Silent Generation” (those who are 65 years old or older today) were marrying by the boat load, with as many as half of their members promising to love and cherish until death.

So, North Dakota, from the statistics borne out by the Pew Research Studies, you really have to wonder how much good a six-month “waiting” period with a dose of “counseling” in order for couples to say ‘nay’ or ‘yea’ or to simply move on and start a new life will do. From the statistics available, I am willing to bet not much, except maybe convince a few on ‘the fence’ that marriage is really work and if things go in the dumper, nothing the ND legislature can do will remedy a failed marriage or stop a divorce between two people who simply do not want to be together anymore.

Obliterating the “Scarlet Letter”

Today’s young adult Millennials’ attitude regarding marriage is not reflected with a decrease in the population. To the contrary. Over half (51 percent) of all the births among Millennials in 2008 were born to out-of-wedlock mothers. In 1997, when the Gen Xer’s were the same age as today’s Millennials, the percentage of babies born to unwed mothers was 39 percent.

Unless North Dakota’s State Senator Joe T. Miller from Park River and similar nineteenth-century-thinking legislators intent on conniving a law into North Dakota statutes forbidding premarital sex by subliminal brain washing techniques, your manipulating the definition of when an embryo becomes a human being will very likely not only extinguish the embryo you hope to save, but very likely the lives of the young women you will condemn to a desperate demise.

Young women – some as young as eleven – and older women as well who have been abused and raped by relatives and strangers – have left this earth long before their time due to utter desperation and no alternatives. Faced with having a child they did not want, ask for, nor have a choice in carrying, they turned to back-alley butchers or self-induced abortions. Some simply bled to death; others died due to infections left to fester inside their bodies that rotted their internal organs. All for the benefit of zealots who anoint themselves messengers of their Creators and with twisted and contrived notions quote words such as “Blessings is capitalized for the reason of its supernatural origin” then conjure up definitions to suit your personal agenda.

News Flash, Mr. Miller and N.D. legislative cohorts: the year is 2013, and in case you people have not noticed, the times are a-changing. For whatever reason, you were all elected to represent the constituents within your district. Not dictate. Mandating that everyone believe as you is not representation. Ignoring the right of every woman to choose what she does with her body is not representation. Changing Federal laws to suit your own wishes and will is not representation. Instead of attempting to “fix” what’s not broken, stop wasting the taxpayers’ money and actually do something that will enable people in your districts to find jobs and shelter so they can feed the child that is already here and living in North Dakota, going to school and needing milk or juice at break time, inside school buildings that are not bursting at the seams and in need of more teachers with adequate teaching tools. Isn’t that the reason you were sent to Bismarck in the first place?

MINNESOTA’S DAYTON CUTS THE ‘NOSE’ OFF FACES OF BIZ

No matter how you slice the tax pie, if a 5 percent sales tax is allowed to worm its way through the Minnesota Legislature, THINK about the consequences to border cities in Minnesota. It will not help the small business owner in Moorhead sell his services, be they for plumbing, heating, moving, serving legal papers, or any number of other “services.” Local MBA members met with District 4- A legislators Ben Lien and Kent Eken last Saturday, imploring both to stop this tax from passing. It sure would help them and every business owner providing a service to email every other Minnesota Legislator the same sentiment. The trade-off on possibly lowering our property taxes is not an exchange that will help any property owner nearly as much as keeping even one business from leaving Moorhead. Fact is, we simply cannot afford to lose even one business in Moorhead. And I’ve already had three business owners located in Moorhead tell me if this 5 percent tax goes into effect, they very likely will move across the river. Help yourself and your community, Moorheadites! PROTEST! Scream and yell, whatever it takes. Because this is one tax that will hurt far more than any good it will create.

For questions and / or comments please contact Soo at: sooasheim@aol.com by email or P.O. Box 123, Fargo, ND, 58107 or call 218-233-8604 and leave a message with name and date you called.