Saturday, February 19, 2005

Another Metro Shocker

The metro really has changed. When I took the train home on Thursday, I was a little surprised to see this ad as I left L'Enfant Plaza.




I muttered something to myself about old-fashioned conservatives and went on my way. I had completely forgotten the ad until I got the Capitol South last night and was greeted with this display:


I stopped dead in my tracks and stared, mouth wide open, as hill staffers streamed around me. After my blood started flowing again, it started boiling. Of course married people make more money, the IRS gives them a discount. I would make more money if I didn't have to give more of my paycheck to Uncle Sam. They also have the same financial benefits as any roommates do; it's always cheaper to buy for two. And because they have more money, they can afford to send their kids to private schools and to pay for tutors so naturally their children do better than those of a struggling single mom who has to send her children to public school. Instead of encouraging that woman to find a man, why don't they spend some of their advertising money on after-school programs so that her child has the same advantages as Mr & Mrs Wait Until Marriage's does.

"They", by the way, are
Campaign For Our Children, a MD based organization dedicated to reducing the teen birth rate. What I can't figure out is: which side of the fence is CFOC on? They push abstinence as the number one form of birth control but also provide good information on all other forms of birth control and sites Planned Parenthood as the source. They keep a running tally of teen pregnancies vs. teen births, seemingly encouraging abortion. But their "Marriage Works" campaign smacks of the right wing, anti-gay, pro-"family values" conservatism that has infected our government. I just can't figure this out. Any thoughts?

Side note: only 50% of marriages actually "work" - shouldn't they have a disclaimer at the bottom of their posters?

1 comment:

Constance said...

The whole pro-marriage with a side of planned parenthood, gives kids the chance to hold on to their "spoiled" existance as children with parents while entering the adult world which doesn't always look the same from the up as it did from the down. My parents didn't divorce when I was a child and still after years of retrospect, that is the best I can come up with.