In another sign of MAGA irrationality, e.g., belief in false realities, a WaPo opinion discusses federal infrastructure spending guided by a false image of traditional family structure (not paywalled):
The Trump administration recently issued new guidelines for the Transportation Department, surprisingly prioritizing spending and infrastructure for “communities with marriage and birth rates higher than the national average.” In other words, communities with large traditional families. .... That means rural and small-town America — presumably President Donald Trump’s core constituency — will disproportionately benefit from these funds.
Our research shows that over the past three decades, among women ages 15 to 44, marriage rates have fallen much faster for rural women than for their urban counterparts. Between 1988 and 2018, the proportion of rural women who were married fell from 55% to 33%. Marriage among urban women also declined, but to a lesser degree.
The opinion points out that in rural areas, cohabitation rose more sharply and divorce has declined more slowly. By 2018, rural women were more likely than urban women to be in an unmarried cohabiting partnership (19 percent vs. 14 percent). The proportion of urban women who never marry is still slightly higher, mainly because urban women marry at older ages. In addition, the “baby bust” in America is larger among rural women than urban. 54% of rural children are born outside marriage compared to 45% of urban children.
Collectively, the data indicate that using marriage and family size to guide transportation funding is going to disadvantage rural regions. Once MAGA elites come to understand the stupidity of their plans, assuming they ever do, maybe they will rethink and try to come up with sensible, cost-effective transportation policy based on reality, reason and empirical data.
Ha! MAGA understanding? Fat chance.
