The purpose of the divorce stastics was in refute to your post (some of which I include below for your reference). A nation with a high divorce rate hardly seems to be "an image of order and peace" nor would high divorce suggest to me that there is a significant emphasis of any sort on the concept of a family in this country. Maybe things changed since Tocqueville made his assertations (in what 1850?), but it would seem, stastically at least, that America is no better than or worse than most European countries today as far as staying together. I mean, read what you wrote in quotation of Tokie (as I will lovingly refer to him from here on out) about European countries. How is a nation with high divorce rate not "full of 'fluctuating desire', 'restlessness of heart', and 'agitated by tumultuous passions'"?
A homosexual couple can instill proper values just as well as, if not better than, a divorced heterosexual couple. Would you advocate the prohibition of divorce for sake of family stability and moral fortitude? If, as you say, "The creation of a good, upright citizenry is best done through the influence of traditional family life" it would seem that divorce should be at least as reprehensible as gay marriage (assuming you can prove that gay marriage is somehow deterimental to the moral development of an individual...which you haven't yet).
Hence the need to base laws on more than just tradition. The "Traditional American Family" is not the institution it once was. To make a law prohibiting something like homosexual marriage because it is abhorrent to the "Traditional American Family (TAF)" first requires you to define the TAF. Then, if you're being reasonable, you can't pick and choose which aspects detrimental to the TAF are acceptable and which aren't (such as allowing divorce while not allowing gay marriage - and I am still not sold that gay marriage will collapse society like you claim). So, for the sake of arguement, if you want to keep this going, define what you mean by TAF (and dno't put something stupid like a man, his wife and their kids." That doesn't explain where the proper moral development comes from or how it results in good, upright citizenry). That way, maybe we can get somewhere.
"In a free society, such as in America, the primary organizing and stabilizing factor is the family. Alexis de Tocqueville, an astute French observer of American life, notes in his book, Democracy in America, that “There is no country in the world where the tie of marriage is more respected than in America. In Europe, almost all the disturbances of society arise from irregularities in domestic life.” He goes on to call the American family “an image of order and peace” as well as the device in which the American man moderates his opinions and tastes. In other words, a nation which produces strong families is likely to also produce effective governments. Tocqueville laments the lack of such family life in his home country, which he describes as full of “fluctuating desire”, “restlessness of heart”, and “agitated by tumultuous passions.” The moderation of American thinking and public service Tocqueville, at least partially, attributes to the strength and tradition of the American family.
The recognition of civil unions between two men or two women would inevitably lead to the decline of the American family as it has been understood since the inception of our nation. Without the moral and sensible regulation the family brings to life, America could drift into an era of moral disintegration, social agitation, and political extremism. The creation of a good, upright citizenry is best done through the influence of traditional family life."
