The I Love CVille Show With Jerry Miller! - A Reasonable Man Never Achieved Anything; Swannanoa Country Club For Sale, $3.5 Million

Episode Date: February 14, 2024

The I Love CVille Show headlines: A Reasonable Man Never Achieved Anything Swannanoa Country Club For Sale, $3.5 Million Neil Williamson: Is CVille Abandoning Citizens? UVA Prof Says Marriage = More $$ & Happiness UVA Prof: 1 in 3 Young Adults Will Not Marry Dave Matthews Band Nominated Rock&Roll HOF What’s The Best Dave Matthews Story You Got? Pittsburgh Pounds Virginia BBall On National TV Read Viewer & Listener Comments Live On-Air The I Love CVille Show airs live Monday – Friday from 12:30 pm – 1:30 pm on The I Love CVille Network. Watch and listen to The I Love CVille Show on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, LinkedIn, iTunes, Apple Podcast, YouTube, Spotify, Fountain, Amazon Music, Audible and iLoveCVille.com.

Good Wednesday afternoon, guys. I'm Jerry Miller, and thank you kindly for joining us on the I Love Seville Show. We are live in our studio on Market Street, one block from the police station, a block from the Alamo County Courthouse, the Charlottesville Courthouse, one block off the downtown mall. We are a mile and change from Thomas Jefferson's University, a mile and change from Scott Stadium and the Rotunda, and smack dab in the middle of the heartbeat of a city we love dearly, Charlottesville, Virginia, a show that spotlights not only Seville, but Central Virginia in totality, a market of 300,000 people of many different ideologies and socioeconomic statuses.

Status I? Statuses? I think statuses is correct. thoughts, wealth, habits, human behavior, which makes the region interesting, which creates tensions and frictions and dynamics that we highlight often on this program, and we will today. Take a look at the screen for some of today's headlines. Brad Wilcox is a renowned sociologist. He's a look at the screen for some of today's headlines. Brad Wilcox is a renowned

sociologist. He's a friend of the program. I see Brad Wilcox often around the Easter holiday. He is a sociologist at the University of Virginia, an esteemed and appreciated and respected professor, tenured professor, and author, a national known commodity in the sphere we call sociology. In fact, yours truly took a summer class with Professor Wilcox, Sociology 101, in the summer of 2001. So in 2001, I first met Professor Wilcox and found him compelling, found him profound in thought. He was one of the professors at the university, much like Ken Elzinga, the esteemed and renowned economics professor, that captivated my attention.

There were few that did, frankly, and that was more a reflection of me and a lack of maturity and a mindset that wanted distraction when it came to girls and entrepreneurial endeavors and partying and having freedoms associated with going to college and leaving what was potentially a strict two-parent household

probably best served me with a gap year. But when I was going from high school to college, a gap year was not really embraced. I hadn't even heard the term gap year until a handful of years ago. The expectation was graduate from high school, and I did well in high school. I went to a Catholic school in Williamsburg, private school.

Did well on standardized tests. Had all the extracurriculars in the clubs and the sports and the leadership boxes checked on my college application. Got into the University of Virginia early, and frankly, started coasting. But Wilcox, he had a way of connecting with students that I found compelling in the summer of 2001. And Professor Wilcox has authored a book that I want to highlight on today's program. He's the director of the National Marriage Project at UVA. He wrote Get Married, Why Americans Must Defy the Elites, Forge Strong Families, and save civilization. And on this Valentine's Day in 2024,

which is nearly 23 years after I first encountered Professor Wilcox as a precocious and distracted, soon-to-be second year at the University of Virginia, I find myself compelled by Professor Wilcox again. Virginia's media arm, which you can find online at news.virginia.edu, and one author, Mike Mather, interviewed Professor Wilcox to highlight his book on marriage. I thought it was fitting on Valentine's Day to discuss this and some of the dynamics from the book, including Professor Wilcox's research that marriage will yield monetary gain, greater gain generally than those who choose to remain single.

Marriage yields more happiness than those who choose to remain single. And children that are byproducts of an intact household have opportunities of success that children of broken households do not. For example, Professor Wilcox's research indicates that non-intact families reduce children's odds of graduating college by 50%. And if you are a young man from a divorced family, your odds of landing in jail or prison increase by twofold. We'll talk about his book. We'll talk about his research on today's program. Also on the program,

I want to highlight Swannanoa Country Club. It's for sale right now. The asking price is $3,500,000. 236 acres. Judah, you can rotate some of those photos on screen. Swannanoa Country Club and its golf course are the anti-golf course in a lot of ways. Rules at Swannanoa Country Club are few and far between. You will often see dogs running amok on the course, chasing geese away from fairways and greens while you're hitting a five iron or a sand wedge out of a bunker or your 10 degree driver from the tips. Literally dogs chasing geese off the golf course. At Swannanoa Golf Course and Country Club, you'll see golfers in jean shorts. Yes, jorts are a thing. Judah Woodcower wore a pair of jorts

on our last 70 degree day. We'll highlight that on today's program as well. That is a bald-faced lie. You have a problem with jorts? You wouldn't wear jorts? I have a problem. Are you on the show, or are you speaking without being on screen? Neither of us is on screen.

Okay. Jorts. Showing pictures. Jorts. You wouldn't wear jorts? I've never really been a jorts fan. Why? Just, they don't appeal to me as a style choice.

Are you a shorts man at all? When I'm on the beach. The only time you wear shorts is when you're on the beach? Mostly. Occasionally when it's hot, but I'm just... What's the beef with shorts? They just don't appeal to me. I don't like the feel of them.

You don't like the feel of shorts? What does that mean? That means I prefer to have my legs covered. Are we on screen? Yeah. What does that mean, you do not like the feel of shorts? Out of curiosity.

It means I prefer to have my legs covered. Prefers to have his legs covered. Okay. Learned something about Judah Wickauer. We've worked together for 13 years and changed. The first time I've heard that Judah Wickauer does not like shorts and does not wear shorts. I have noticed that you never wear shorts. It could be 105 degrees and significant humidity and Judah Wickauer shows up to work in slacks and often long-sleeved shirts. Because it's not...

Usually buttoned down. Because it's usually... You have to walk here, Judah. You're walking from your car that you park off Park Street in over 100-degree weather with significant humidity and pants and a long-sleeved shirt. So you're suggesting I bring clothes to change into when I get here? I just, you're, you're, you're, you march to the beat of

your own drum and that's what makes you unique and likable. I mean, a five to 10 minute walk in the heat is one thing, but sitting in a chilly office in shorts and short-sleeved shirt for the entire day. One of the few, if not only, people who say that in this office is you. Which, you know, adds to the flavor that is due to Wickhauer. Swannanoa Golf Club for sale, $3,500,000. I've actually played this course. $3,500,000. I've actually played this course. $3,500,000 the asking price, 236 acres. Show the sign from Swannanoa Golf Course.

Let us know when that's on screen. It says literally on the sign outside the country club, country club in air quotes. Look at rule number three under course rules. Must wear shirts.. Must wear shirts. You must wear shirts at Swannanoa Golf Club. A rule that must be put on the sign outside the air quotes clubhouse. How do you know you're in the country?

I have played this course. I have seen jorts, dogs chasing geese. I've seen many golfers riding the back of a golf cart, not sitting in the golf cart, but riding the back while standing of a golf court, shotgunning Budweiser's as their mullets flow in the wind of an 18-mile-an-hour breeze from the golf cart hauling tail over and around a bunker on the sixth hole of this course. You have not lived until you have seen one of the Shenandoah Valley's finest in jean shorts, jorts, a cut-off flannel red shirt, a meshed hat, mullet blowing in the wind,

shotgunning butt heavies, while standing on the back of a golf cart as it hauls tail down the six-hole, weaving through and around bunkers. $3,500,000 asking price for 236 acres, an extraordinary opportunity as it's being marketed by Tim, is it Michelle? I would say it's Michelle of McLean Foster.

It might, Michael. He says the Sualnora Country Club is currently a beautiful, beloved golf course sited on the top of the Blue Ridge Mountains, 20 minutes west of Charlottesville, UVA and convenient to the Valley. The property is being offered as is. It has great potential for residential development, vineyards. The owners make no representations regarding the golf course business. I would imagine the golf course business is struggling mightily.

That's me offering that perspective. That's not in the listing. The Swatonoa property is located adjacent to the Shenandoah National Park, the Blue Ridge Parkway near Wintergreen and the Crozet Tunnel. This is breaking news. You'll see this in the traditional media cycle. This is part of the late Phil Delaney estate that's being piecemealed by, you know, slowly coming to the market by his heirs in the next generation. Remember the former, was it Virginia Oil? Sight on Ivy Road is currently on the market with the fantastic real estate firm Frank Hardy,

front of the program, having that listing. In the last few weeks, we've highlighted two fairly established, deep throat, I thought the same. I'll get to your comment here in a matter of moments. In the last few weeks, we've highlighted two fairly established commodities that have hit the for sale market. We let you know, we broke this news that Whitehall Vineyards is for sale. The asking price is $12 million for Whitehall Vineyards. And the asking price for Whitehall Vineyards at $12 million is a pretty substantial and massive property. 172 acres, Whitehall, with a tasting room and a massive manor house that's 11 bedrooms and nine baths 12 million dollars for whitehall which was built in 1992 actually it's 210 acres i stand corrected i apologize 210 acres now swananoa the asking price

and i'll share the listing on the social feeds this show airs on has an asking price of 236 acres, or has an acreage of 236 acres and an asking price of $3,500,000. I thought the same thing that Deep Throat just DM'd me, and I'll read his if you want to put his photo on screen. $15,000 per acre. How is that not a bargain? And he says, you think Swannanoa is a development opportunity rather than a sale of going concern public course. I think it's definitely, definitely a development opportunity and not a golf course. I'm going to take the link for Swannanoa. I'm going to put it in the comment section of my Facebook page, Charlottesville Oil, thank you. I'm going to put it in the comment section of I Love Seville,

the comment section of the I Love Seville group, the comment section of LinkedIn, and I'm going to put it in the Twitter thread of this talk show, literally as we speak, so you, the viewer and listener, can have an opportunity to view yourself, what we're talking about.

So it's on Twitter now. 3.5 million asking price. I think this is a development opportunity. I think that's the play here. I do not think the play is to run this as a development opportunity. I think that's the play here. I do not think the play is to run this as a golf course for jorts and cutoff flannels, mesh trucker caps, and mullets blowing in the breeze of an 18-mile-an-hour governor-regulated golf cart that weaves through bunkers and traps

as someone is standing on the back of it pounding bud heavies, shotgunning bud heavies. I would imagine the meme accounts will have some fun with that golf course, golf cart reference in yours truly. No doubt. I want to start the program with a quote that has resonated with me. It's a version of a piece of advice or a quote that George Bernard Shaw said.

And that quote is, a reasonable man never achieved anything. A reasonable man never achieved anything. I'll unpack that on this fine and fair Valentine's Day in 2024 by offering some perspective. Unreasonable man is one who pers willing to toe the status quo, follow the company line, and join rank and file. And there's a gray area to live with challenge and unreasonable and persisting and innovating. And within that gray area, a lot can be discovered or found. You can learn about yourself. You can learn where you potentially want to be personally and professionally. You can discover strengths and understand weaknesses. In that gray area, you start to realize that you don't truly appreciate the highs of life until you experience the lows of life. So on this Tuesday, February 14th,

I guess it's Wednesday, February 14th in 2024, I will remind or encourage all the viewers and listeners to pursue a life that challenges and pushes you outside of your comfort zone or your box of comfortability. And remember the George Bernard Shaw quote, a reasonable man never achieved anything. From time to time, it's okay to punch the perimeter of the box and break it down and make a new box. Maybe it's even a circle. Because in that moment, you'll learn something about yourself that perhaps you knew

existed or perhaps you knew wasn't even there to begin with. Let's go to Neil Williamson. Judah Wickauer brought this to my attention. We appreciate the president of the Free Enterprise Forum quite a bit. He watches this program. In fact, we should get his photo on screen, even if he has not commented or watched. Oh, I think he is watching the show. He wrote this yesterday.

Should have brought this up yesterday. Is this photo on screen, Niels? Yep. It's a good man, that Neil Williamson. In the iloveceval.com viewer rankings, the power poll you can find online at iloveceval.com forward slash viewer rankings, it looks like you need to update the headline to include today's date. You still have December 18th on there, J-dubs. Neil Williamson is ranked in our poll 19. On his website, the Free Enterprise Forum, this particular writing is not a long one, or analysis blog post is

not a long one, so I'm going to read it verbatim. And I'll start with the headline. Free Enterprise Forum. Fantastic website. The headline is, A Home Without a City is Charlottesville Abandoning Citizens. He uses a gif, jif, what's the preferred? Gif, jif? I believe it's gif. Jif, like peanut butter? GIF? GIF? I believe it's GIF. GIF like peanut butter? GIF. GIF like something I give our son on their birthday? GIF?

Yeah. I believe the G stands for graphic. GIF? GIF. GIF. There you go. Should we put that one on the list? Death nail.

Hit the nose on the head. Hit the nose on the death nail. Hit the nose on the death. Hit the nose on the death nail. Hit the nose on the death nail with the gift. You should put that on the list of things, Jerry. What's the headline of that? What's the title of that document we've created? Words Jerry mispronounces. Words Jerry can say.

Was matriculate on there? Is that one that I like to use? I think you pronounced that one correctly. I don't know that you always use it correctly. How about assimilate? Undoubtedly. You said that right. Thank you. Neil Williamson, president of the Free Enterprise Forum, writes this. A troubling new municipal practice has come to the attention of the Free Enterprise Forum.

According to reputable sources, the city of Charlottesville is choosing not to provide services to some of their taxpaying residences because their street is not accepted by the city. We have heard of non-enforcement of parking policies, Neal writes, as well as slow-to-no replies on many public safety issues. While the city is willing to assess and collect taxes from these homes, they are seemingly not willing to provide basic city services to these homes. Where do they draw the line? If a building catches fire on an

unaccepted road, will the Charlottesville Fire Department answer the call? Many of these roads have been in existence for greater than four years and have been held up by bureaucratic issues with the city's engineer division of public works. If the city is willfully denying government services to taxpayers, should the city provide a tax refund to those underserved citizens? Again, we have more questions than answers. Respectfully submitted, Neil, the king of content. Williamson was number 19 in the poll. This is,

how do you characterize this? If true, I take Neil at his word. I'm definitely eager to learn more about this. I'd like more information on this for sure. Yeah, But yeah, if it's true it's troubling. I mean

the city is willing to I mean it's not surprising I suppose not just Charlottesville but any government institution willing to take your money, but less than forthcoming with what those tax dollars should be affording you. It seems crazy. This seems crazy. This seems like an alternate universe. Yeah.

And by whose measure are the streets not accepted? Another good question. Who's the barometer of acceptance is what you're basically asking. Yeah. And if you're any, like, is, I don't know, it just blows my mind. Like, do they, does that street become, like, an independent entity that's outside of the scope of the city? And why are they not providing the services. Or some, I guess,

guideline for making those areas accepted by the city. Is there, I just don't, you know, it's, I definitely want more information. Deep Throat says this for Neil Williamson and he shares the link. Neil, I'm going to take the link that Deep Throat just sent us and send it to you. The city just lost its head engineer, he says. Here's the job posting link.

The city of Charlottesville, Deep Throat says, just lost its head engineer, by the way. The job is posted online. I'm going to the link he's sharing, and he's right. The city engineer performs complex technical and administrative work directly in overseeing engineering. The salary range is $98,550 to $123,500. The city engineer is asked to perform complex technical and administrative work directly and directing and overseeing engineering projects for the city areas of work include but are not limited to traffic engineering sidewalks drainage storm water erosion sediment control road and bridge construction repair and inspections of bridges

and retaining walls construction support and inspections of bridges and retaining walls, construction support, and public-private project collaboration for utilities and land development. The position has supervisory responsibilities over division personnel, such as other engineers, project managers, inspectors. The position reports to the public works director. If you'd like to apply, here's the link. Wow. So Neil, I'm going to take this and I'm going to message this to you right now. And perhaps this could offer more background and color on what you wrote yesterday on the free enterprise forum if i was a tax paying citizen in the city and i was not getting um and neil i just facebook messaged it to you it's in your facebook message inbox now from deep throat and i was and this was happening to me I would I would ask shouldn't I get some of my tax dollars back

yeah no doubt like the city of Charlottesville is choosing not to provide services to some of their tax-paying residents because their street is not accepted by the city what does that mean yeah what does that mean and he also asked some good questions about what what does that mean? And he also asked some good questions about what does that mean in terms of if you have a problem. If you have a problem that the city would normally take care of, like a fire or something that would require police presence. Like I said, are you just living in like undiscovered country somehow? Like, I'm sorry, we don't go there. Yeah. And where is it in Charlottesville? Yeah. John Blair watched the program number two in the family, put his photo on screen. He says on the Afton mountain topic today, on the Afton Mountain topic, today Augusta

County got a $500,000 brownfield grant to water wastewater work on Afton Mountain. I think this could turn into a major development if an owner can assemble these properties together. Both Augusta County and Nelson County as well as Waynesboro are staunchly behind redeveloping that area. Here is a link to the grant press release, and he shares it in the LinkedIn comments of the show that's airing on that platform. Wow, John, I didn't know that. He says, on the Afton Mountain topic you're covering today, Augusta County got a $500,000 brownfield grant to water and wastewater work on Afton Mountain. And he says he believes this could turn into a major development if an owner can assemble these properties together. Both Augusta County and Nelson County, as well as Waynesboro, are staunchly behind redeveloping that area.

Swannanoa is not that far from Charlottesville in the listing which I shared online it says it is I wouldn't say it's 20 minutes it says 20 minutes west of Charlottesville that's a little smoke and mirrors there it's a little longer than 20 minutes there's a lot longer than 20 minutes. There's a lot of opportunity here.

I would also love to see if Sir Neil Williamson has more perspective that he can share, because we would love to highlight it on the show. Johnny Ornelas, Guadalajara, El Mariachi, and Mahikali, welcome to the program. Kevin Yancey, Philip Dow, Ginny Hu, welcome to the program. Thank you kindly for joining us. TV station down the road is watching us as well as one of the reporters at the local newspaper. Thank you kindly for joining us on the show. Carly Wagner watching the program.

Let's get Carly's photo on screen. Carly is number three in the family. She's actually an engineer by trade and also a licensed realtor as well. She's offering perspective on the marriage piece and the engineering piece. She says, Neil, are these roads privately owned? She says, Neil, under the state system? Neil, the responsibility for each road should be clearly defined between private ownership and what public entity is responsible, city, state, or VDOT. She says VDOT has a database of which streets fawned or which entity.

That's rather low for such a role. She's talking about the compensation for the city engineer. One of the reasons, and Lloyd Snook and Juan Diego Wade will be on Friday's edition of Real Talk with Keith Smith, live and in studio, Friday at 10.15 a.m. We have the mayor of Charlottesville

and the former mayor of Charlottesville, who's a current city councilor. Juan Diego Wade, Lloyd Snook, and Brian Pinkston have shown early signs that they are going to raise the real estate tax rate from 96 cents per hundred to an even dollar per hundred. And they highlighted the need to raise the real estate tax rate

from 96 cents to a dollar even because they want to compensate current city employees and future city employees to a higher tune to attract more talent and to retain talent. I believe they've already raised some of the pay scales for some of those. And we have no problem with... Paying people what they deserve.

Paying people more money. We have no problem. We're all for that. Our challenge is... Finding that money. What's that? Finding that money without bankrupting the rest of us.

There, that's the challenge. Our challenge is the spending nature of government. We have no problem paying people what they earn, what they deserve, to keep them in the job. But if you are doing that, you probably should cut back elsewhere. So the common Sally and the common Joe does not get, what's the word I'm looking for?

Gentrified? Gentrified? I was going to say screwed. Screwed. Albert Graves, thank you for the retweet. Ginny Hu is giving you some props on the temperature in the studio. There's one person on your side right there.

All right, I want to get to Brad Wilcox. Brad Wilcox is a sociologist. He's a PhD. He's a professor. He's a known commodity in sociology circles, I would say worldwide. Worldwide. He's got a book that is called Get Married, Why Americans Must Defy the elites, forge strong families, and save civilization. He claims in this book that getting married and staying married is one of the single biggest predictors of wealth, success, and happiness in life. He's got a bunch of research to back this up. This is the same Brad Wilcox, who's the director of the National Marriage Project

at the University of Virginia. I first encountered Brad Wilcox as a soon-to-be second year at the University of Virginia, summer of 2001. So I've known Professor Wilcox for, golly, almost 23 years. Nice.

I've had the fortunate experience of enjoying some Easter festivities with Professor Wilcox over the last handful of years. As his in-laws are our neighbors. Okay. His in-laws, fabulous people. Brad and his wife, absolutely fabulous. Interestingly, Brad met his wife, Danielle, as a fourth year at the University of Virginia. He attended Thomas Jefferson's university as well,

and he's been married for 28 years. He's got two fantastic daughters that we, my wife and I, cross our fingers, would be willing to babysit our two boys. A couple things that stood out for me from the Q&A that Virginia's media arm did with Professor Wilcox as he's releasing this book. This is an interesting one.

Children of divorced families are 50% less likely to graduate from college. Boys of divorced families, their odds of landing in jail or prison increase by twofold. Twofold. Twofold. Boys of divorced families. He also describes what is a new mentality among Gen Zers and young millennials.

It's called the Midas Mindset. I've never heard of this term, the Midas Mindset. And the Midas Mindset is the idea, Brad Wilcox says, that what really matters in life is education, money, building your own brand, and getting a great career, rather than focusing on getting married and having a good family. The mindset of society and mankind has changed. Boomers, you are what generation? Can we get the generational chart on screen? What are you? I believe I'm Generation X.

You're Gen X, the generation right before millennials, right? Yes. What is the age range for boomers? And you're putting the chart on screen? Chart is on screen. Boomers, oh, that's crazy. I wonder if there's any flex in that. My dad actually...

You're getting distracted. The age of boomers, 1946 to 1964. Okay. So, what, 79, 78 years old to, or that's the high end, and 64 would be... 58? 60? Yeah, 58, 59, 60?

Yeah. Okay. Gen X? Gen X, 65 to 1980. So you've got... We're not going to test our arithmetic skills live on air. Clearly they're a little rusty, probably because we have calculators on our wrists

and in the palm of our hands, and we don't need to actually do math anymore. Just like we don't have to spell anymore. Just like we don't have to write sentences anymore. Just like we don't have to do cursive writing anymore. My son in kindergarten is learning cursive and penmanship, and it just blows me away watching him do it. My cursive was always terrible. Cursive.

Here's the point of what we're getting at. Boomers, Gen Xers, and I would even make the argument for old millennials, the expectation was, graduate high school, go to college, start your career to college, start your career after college, get married and have kids.

Young millennials, Gen Zers, what's Gen Alpha range? They are the youngest, about 14. And the oldest? 2010 to 2020 is what we're looking for. Yeah, I meant... The oldest is 14. I meant the earliest.

Yeah. Gen, young millennials, Gen Zers, and Gen Alpha, the mindset is not graduate high school, go to college, start a career, get married and have kids. The mindset now is go finish high school. Find yourself. Discover yourself. Gap year. Neat. Discover yourself. Gap year. NEAT, the acronym.

Not employed, educated, or training. We just learned that term, NEAT. Not seeking employment, education, or training. NEAT. And according to Professor Wilcox, this Midas mindset is one of the reasons he predicts more than one in three young adults will never marry. He said that will be a record.

One in three young adults will never marry. That's why he encourages his students not to pursue the Midas mindset. He says his research indicates marriage is a more powerful predictor of happiness than money, than the degree on your wall or a job, and nothing compares to a good marriage when it comes to forging a meaningful and happy life, according to his research. Let's unpack this. It makes sense.

The money piece makes perfect sense. You get married, if you have dual income, you're going to have more money. If you get married, even if you have a singular income, you're going to probably be budgeting and more conservative with your finances because you have other mouths to feed. No doubt.

You get married, probably your likelihood of getting a mortgage and owning a home increases. You get married, the likelihood of savings is going to increase. Because you have to plan for the worst in some circumstances. Yeah. If he predicts one in three young people will not get married, what is the byproduct of that? I mean, China is currently, I think, staring down the barrel of that gun.

Population decrease. It's crazy to think that just, what, two or three decades ago, probably more like three to four decades ago, people were worried about a population explosion pretty much destroying the world. I guess we're not worried about that anymore. And you spoke in the beginning of the show of marriage and how it's being portrayed by media

not just media but uh i mean he says it himself in the uh talks about left-leaning mainstream media figures saying marriage is bad and what it's funny that he says the left-leaning people are saying this to the women, that women don't need to get married. And apparently the right-wing media figures are telling the same thing to men. Men don't need to get married. Andrew Tate, a big voice in what he calls the manosphere, has said there is zero advantage to marriage for men. And I think if you feed that to people, if they eat at that trough for long enough, then eventually they start to believe it.

What's the divorce rate in America? I think it's probably about 50%. I think that's been pretty standard across the board. Let's see if you can find the U.S. divorce rate. I guess I was wrong. The reality, it's commonly said that half of all first marriages end in divorce. However, the reality is more complex. The American Psychological Association estimates that the probability of a first marriage ending in divorce

within the first 10 years is approximately 33% in 2023. Still a pretty high number. Yeah, one in three. If young millennials, Gen Zers, I'll even throw old millennials, are byproducts of a divorced society. Either themselves or friends. They clearly will be influenced by upbringing.

And could be disenchanted, distrusting, demoralized, jaded. If this is how it ends, why make a start? The same argument made with a lot of folks when it comes to seeing what their parents went through in the 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 real estate crisis. A lot of kids that grew up watching their parents navigate 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 were jaded when it came to the housing and the economy because of a great recession in our

country. So are we seeing one in three, as he puts it, of young adults choosing not to get married or may choose not to get married as a indicator of the Midas mindset, them pursuing wealth, influence, personal brand, professional career? Or is it also a piece or part of the puzzle of going through this divorce culture? Is it also part of the puzzle of media? You watch television, Netflix, you watch YouTube, you watch any kind of, absorb any kind of media, and divorce is common language. It's all these elements

that are influencing young millennials, Gen Zers, and will influence Alpha, Gen Alpha. Yeah, I'm sure there's a variety of reasons why people decide not to get married. But something that we should unpack even more, if one in three choose not to get married, those that do get married and stay married, is that another factor like home ownership for generational wealth creation? If you're a child of a marriage, you're 50% more likely, he says, to graduate from college.

You're way less likely to go to jail or prison. Half as likely. For college. Twofold, he said, for jail and prison. Yeah, that's... So my point is this. When you're talking generational wealth, you talk home ownership. Some folks throw the college degree in there, but I'm not buying that so much anymore. Is another factor byproduct of intact household?

Yeah. I think there's going to be a variety of reasons that make people make the decisions they make. Some of them are going to be responses to marriages they've seen not work out. I think some of them are, as he mentioned, they're going to be just a sense that it's all pointless or that it's not going to work out, that, you know, dating is changing and is no longer, you know, you no longer just, like, go to the hop

and dance with a girl, you know. Go to the hop? Yeah. What? What is the hop? Go to the hop and dance with a girl? What are you, Marty McFly? Is this the enchantment under the sea dance?

Exactly my point. There's a difference of opinion. Where's Biff? Where's Doc Brown? Lost in time. Is he at the hop? See what not getting married gets you? The photo is changing and his arm is disappearing. Yeah. Get the sports almanac, damn it. Go to the hop? I love Judah.

All right. Personal question you don't have to answer if you don't want to. Challenging question and applicable question. You're a single man. Does this concern you? Are you going to go to the hop and look to find a partner? And what are your dancing skills like? I've never been much of a dancer, probably because I didn't go to the hop enough. Or you're not wearing the jean shorts. And you're wearing the flannel button-down in the pants in the 100-degree summertime. Yeah.

I also don't have the... Genuine question. Does this worry you? Yeah, it worries me. I think it should worry all of us. We're looking at the gun that China is currently terrified by. They spent so long telling people that they couldn't have more than one child, and now they're looking at a population decline that's going to have a massive effect on their economy. And I think the United States will eventually be facing that same gun. We're going to look back and say, oh, man, we've done something horribly wrong in the way our country has developed. And we spent too long watching families fall apart

until it came to the point where we're at now, where, as he suggests, one in three young people may never even consider getting married. And what is that going to do to... One in three is an astronomical number. Yeah. And what is that going to do to our population? There's... And what is that going to do... Okay, I apologize for interrupting. What is that going to do in comparison to those that choose to get married? It's going to further the wealth divide.

It's going to further the gap between the haves and have-nots. I don't think it's all just wealth, though. I mean, a lot of what he talks about is happiness. Oh, he's talking about happiness. He's straight up talking about happiness. Yeah. He's talking about happiness before wealth. Go ahead. Keep going.

You're on a roll there. I apologize. I mean, I think you're right that there will be a wealth divide. There will also be a happiness divide. I think this ties into a lot of what we've talked about in the past about the way uh the way our country and and the world is changing and the way we see things and the way we deal with things and the way we respond to things and i i don't think we've fully seen the uh the effects of of kids on uh and iPads all day. You're on a roll here. Keep going. We haven't seen the effects of... We haven't seen the full effects of...

COVID. Of fear. We haven't seen the full effects of... Social anxiety associated with screen times. We haven't seen the full effects of the children anxiety associated with screen times. We haven't seen the full effects of the children who lost two years of education during the pandemic. Yeah, that's part of it. And there's...

All this shit, all this stuff, excuse my language, is hitting the time, hitting the fan at exactly the same time. COVID, the pandemic, screen time addiction, social anxiety associated with screen times. And there's even more. There's the fact that newspapers are- Media deserts. Media deserts. I read something recently saying that there is a conspiracy theory

where people believe that at some point, so much of the internet is going to just be bots writing comments and influencing how you and I see things. We saw that perhaps with Russia and the first Trump run for presidency. Maybe. Perhaps. Whether some people believe that, some people don't. Politics aside. Yeah, I'm not going to say it one way or the other. But how much of, you know, scrolling through Facebook, scrolling through Twitter or X,

scrolling through other social media, how much of that is just some bot that's responding to another bot that's responding to another bot? And there are people that actually believe that everything that comes through Facebook was put there for them. What people don't realize is that Judah and I aren't actually human beings. We're actually AI. You're interacting and watching artificial intelligence right now. In fact, if I go over to Judah by his chair, yeah, I can peel the skin off his face and it's going to be nothing but circuit breakers underneath. He makes a really good point. Brad Wilcox's research, and I'm going to get to the viewer and listener comments here in a matter

of moments. He's suggesting that one in three people, one in three young people, we're talking Gen Zers here, one in three are going to choose not to get married at all. And why they choose to not get married might be this Midas mindset of pursuing professional career, money, and personal brand over love. Or it could be because they're byproducts of a divorced generation. It could be that they see the horrors in the modern world and think to themselves... I want to say to myself... Why would I foist this on another generation?

At the same time, this is materializing. This dynamic is materializing. At the same time that this is materializing. This dynamic is materializing. At the same time that we don't even understand what's happened truly yet because of COVID and a pandemic, when three years of our lives were flipped completely upside down, especially young people. Especially the same Gen Zers who fit this one in three mold of not getting married. The Gen Zers that he's talking about, the ones in his college classes now that he's talking about, are the ones that went two to three years of their lives dramatically impacted by COVID. Yeah, no doubt.

Like, what has society or government or fear or an exploited pandemic done to a generation of people. Yeah, I don't think it's just the pandemic. I think, you know, I think that the reins have been out of our hands for a while, and we've been fortunate. I don't buy that. I don't buy that. That's a feared fear mentality.

The reins are always in my hands. of social media and easily manipulated devices that we can stare at and enjoy our own little echo chambers on is changing the way we view things. And I think for a long enough time, the direction that the horse and buggy was heading was generally favorable. So nobody minded or really, I think, made much noise about the fact that,

hey, who's got the reins? And now we're getting to the point where we're starting to see some effects that should scare us, like what he's talking about, but I don't think we fully understand what's brought us to this point, and now when you start looking for the reins, how do you get what he's talking about back on track?

Can you? And those that do get on track, what is the gap that they're going to create between those that don't? Because they figured out how to get back on track more efficiently. Vanessa Parkhill watching the program. Let's get to comments.

We're going to have to view her and listen to her comments here on the show. Vanessa Parkhill, get her photo on screen, please. She is number six in the family. She says this. My parents separated when I was young. It did not sour me on marriage. My husband and I have been together for over 30 years, and I know many

couples who are similar. There are definitely still young people who believe in marriage. Finding your person is often the challenge, even for those who are looking for that relationship. No doubt. Carly Wagner watching the program. My parents also divorced when we were kids. Their marriage was so unhealthy and abusive in so many ways. I saw this impact my siblings negatively. It did not have me write off marriage, but rather decide to be sure who I married for the right reasons and commit to keeping the relationship healthy.

Good comments right there. Lynn Snyder, she says success and happiness has nothing to do with the institution of marriage, but marriages are successful when a partner supports you in growth and development of self. This does not mean you have to be married, and certainly when you mirror this to children, they all grow. The patriarchal system of marriage is why divorce is so high. Kate Schartz watching the program. Aside from accepting Jesus, she says, who you marry is the biggest decision and most life-changing thing you'll do. It makes everything better or everything worse depending on who you choose.

That's why I am already praying for my kids' future spouses, even though they are all 10 and under. She's a great mom. I know Kate personally. She's a fantastic mom. Mom of four. Randy O'Neill, the skeptic, says, America has never thought about making healthy people,

healthier families, stronger or safer. Bill McChesney says, Back in the day, the horse and buggy kept you from traveling outside your birth county. It also created the possibility you would marry your second cousin. Philip Dow says, Amen, Kate Shartz. And Philip Dow also says, We need to go back to the horse and buck here.

Kevin Yancey says, this is just part of the disposable society we've allowed to take over. He says, today's society says, F it, throw in the towel and get another towel. Yeah. Deep Throat shares data, always shares data. He says, Judah, one commonality between China and the United

States, fertility and marriage drops with the housing market, at least according to some observers. In China, the idea is man needs to own a home before he can get married, but housing in the big cities was very expensive relative to income due to speculation. He says people say similar things about fertility in the United States.

People will not have kids if they cannot get their house situation squared away. He says, I'm not sure I buy it, but the argument is definitely out there. I can see that having an effect on certain people. I can totally see that. I can totally see that. What do they call it? Dink? Dink.

Dual income, no kids. Dinks. Because I think a lot of people have that mindset that, look, either we don't want to subject our kids to what's coming in the future or just that we don't feel secure enough in this political economic climate to risk the kind of, I mean, you know, when you have a kid, you're talking about at least 18 years of taking care of someone. And that extends to finances as well. This is a fantastic, well said, Judah. This is a fantastic point by Mr. Blair.

Here's an observation for you and Judah to chew on. I was speaking of screen time regulation earlier this week. Almost all the kids in that situation are the product of married parents. Screen time regulation and married parents. Most single parents cannot regulate screen time. They may want to, but the ability to do so just is not there. Again, we are headed towards massive economic inequality. All of these things build upon each other.

100% agree. That's the point I'm trying to make here. You have all these effing factors that are bubbling in the pot on the stove. And you've got this big pot on the stove. And in the pot on the stove are all these ingredients.

There's the effects of the pandemic when it comes to schools and hybrid learning. And what was it called when we had to stay in our houses? Lockdown. Yeah. Lockdown and lockdown. Private schools open faster for in-person learning than public what's the effect of that what's the effect of taking pre-teens and teens and putting them in

a house to learn on screen and spend even more time on a screen for two years, for 24 to 36 months, as opposed to being around their peers. And those teens are now young adults who are byproducts of screen time and byproducts of multi-generational divorced families. Those young adults are also entering the world at a time of the largest or greatest financial disparity or inequality maybe in American history when it comes to housing, when it comes to inflation, credit card debt, and student loan debt. Yeah, I think it's similar to the idea behind the three-body problem

in that if you take one issue, one problem, you can get a good idea of the effects it might cause. You can look down the road and see what's going to happen. But when you take all of these things together, it's very hard to judge which one is causing the most problems. Is it all of them together? Is it one of them exacerbating another one of them? And I think that's what I meant by the horse and buggy being out of control. There are so many factors that I... Who can point to how all of these different things

have shaped the world we live in now? What does that turn the world into? I don't think we'll know. Does that turn the world into a siloed screen time world? Where relationships, human connection,

emotional connection, physical connection, sex conversation are done in silos away from people and through technology and screen. Like, is that where we're going? Part of it, yeah. not face-to-face, in person, human-to-human, but instead emotional, physical, friendship, love, sex, through a screen?

Could be. And how do you birth a child that way? And what does that do to populations? What does that do to public schools that rely on enrollment for funding? What does that do to those that choose to get married, have kids, create wealth through marriage? We see wealth and marriage go hand in hand.

Private education, they're kids. Does that further divide in future generations with the haves and have nots it's effing terrifying I think there are far reaching consequences and I don't think we fully he touches on like I said

if you can look at... I need to get Brad on the show. Should I get Brad on the show? Sure. I will text Brad Wilcox. I swear I will reach out to Brad Wilcox. I think it would be fascinating to hear what he has to say in a broader, more open platform.

I hope someone has reached out to Brad Wilcox and let him know we're giving him props on this program. His in-laws are neighbors. It's 1.45. We have the juicy details at 2.15. We can continue some of this discussion tomorrow. Unfortunately, I'm not getting to the Dave Matthews topic for a second straight day.

I do have a Dave Matthews story I want to relay. He was nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The University of Virginia was also pummeled by the Pitt Panthers last night. Pittsburgh looked dynamic, like they were unstoppable. I'm not panicking when it comes to Virginia. I still think it's a tournament team I'll close with what I started with and what I started with was a George Bernard Shaw quote

that I found compelling and that it's a reasonable man never achieved anything you ask my wife she would probably call me unreasonable. Push yourself out of the status quo. Push yourself out of the social box or what you think society expects of you and do something different, something challenging, something that goes against safety and traditionalism, something that goes against the grain. And I think what you will find is you'll learn something about yourself that you may have known was there, but were afraid to pursue it, or you will find something about yourself that you may not have known was there at all. And I think you'll find that the highs in life require you to experience the lows first.

Because when you've experienced the lows, then you know what the highs feel like, and you want to pursue them even more. It's my two cents on the Valentine's Day edition of the I Love Seville show. We've gone an hour and 15 minutes on this program without stopping and I think Judah Wickauer did a fantastic job today. So long everybody and thank you for joining us. Thank you.