what’s the problem with the nuclear family?

The modern Leviathan is cold, impersonal, institutional, faux-democratic, alienating, unmanageably complex, ephemeral, bureaucratic, capitalistic, consumptive, profligate, irresponsible, uncomfortable, enervating, opaque, stressful, and insane.

Healthy communitarianism is human-scale, place-based, personal-appreciative, direct, manageable, stable, comfortable, responsible, visible, democratic, and sane.

The last vestiges of communitarianism are the churches, the schools, the libraries, and the families … all of which are in decline.

The nuclear family is a vestige of the extended family. The nuclear family is thin (typically, nowadays, only a mother and a father, or maybe just one parent, and one or two children). Few families have a commitment to a particular place on Earth. The extended family is scattered all over the place. The nuclear family has little in the way of generational continuity. The kids go away to college and don’t come back. That leaves two empty-nesters. Then one dies and that leaves one lonely senior.

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(Ecovillage communities are the solution.)