WHERE DID ALL THE MEN GO? It’s true, a growing legion of men are dropping out of the workforce. They just stop looking for work. The result is not merely economic damage; the traditional family structure, among much else, suffers grievous damage when hard-working, responsible men aren’t available for marriage.

Writing for The Washington Stand, Zachary Patton, a talented young journo, offers this prescient analysis of the problem:

“A major driver of this contraction in the workforce is the direct consequences of social safety net expansion. What was once designed with the intention of being temporary cushions during economic recession has morphed into a permanent way of living for millions of able-bodied Americans.

“Divided amongst state-funded disability benefits, nutritional assistance, and low-income housing subsidies, the economic estuary that exists between a demanding career and remaining jobless has dried up to almost a point of non-existence. When safety nets mitigate non-work without demanding an exchange, the motivator to persevere through demanding labor dissolves.”