In defence of the Family

August 6-10, 2011: we all read in the press shocking reports of intense rioting in London and suburbs.

August 15, 2011: the British Prime Minister R. D. Cameron addresses the Parliament about the issue. The speech is worth reading, and can be found at http://www.politics.co.uk/comment-analysis/2011/08/15/cameron-fight-back-speech-in-full. What is most remarkable, however, are the considerations about the causes of the riots. After acknowledging that the main cause is the fall of moral standards among the younger generation, a solution is outlined as primary: the protections of the family. Here is the relevant section:

“The question people asked over and over again last week was ‘where are the parents? Why aren’t they keeping the rioting kids indoors?’ Tragically that’s been followed in some cases by judges rightly lamenting: “why don’t the parents even turn up when their children are in court?”

Well, join the dots and you have a clear idea about why some of these young people were behaving so terribly. Either there was no one at home, they didn’t much care or they’d lost control.

Families matter.

I don’t doubt that many of the rioters out last week have no father at home. Perhaps they come from one of the neighbourhoods where it’s standard for children to have a mum and not a dad… …where it’s normal for young men to grow up without a male role model, looking to the streets for their father figures, filled up with rage and anger.

So if we want to have any hope of mending our broken society, family and parenting is where we’ve got to start. I’ve been saying this for years, since before I was Prime Minister, since before I was leader of the Conservative Party.

So: from here on I want a family test applied to all domestic policy. If it hurts families, if it undermines commitment, if it tramples over the values that keeps people together, or stops families from being together, then we shouldn’t do it.

[…] We are working on ways to help improve parenting – well now I want that work accelerated, expanded and implemented as quickly as possible. This has got to be right at the top of our priority list."

What will be done remains to be seen; but still, we do not hear very often this kind of blunt talk from a politician, for it is not “politically correct.”

We remember that the Holy Father has repeatedly indicated the defence of the family as one of the three “non negotiable principles” of Catholic social action.

There's work to do, for all of us.