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SALT LAKE CITY — Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, extolled the value of family Friday, telling the nation's philanthropic leaders Friday that "living as members of a family prepares us to live as members of a community."
In families, people learn about duty and obligation to others, he said.
"The family is, as one author put it, the nursery of the next generation," said Lee, addressing the Philanthropy Roundtable's 23rd annual meeting at the Grand America Hotel.
More than ever, Lee said, "the health of the family is indivisible from our destiny as a nation."
Yet dysfunctional government policies are creating obstacles to opportunity for families. These policies trap poor children in failed schools and poor families in poor neighborhoods. Moreover, they penalize men and women for getting married, he said.
"The people shouldering the brunt of big government's failures are exactly the people whose equal opportunity and pursuit of happiness we should protect the most, and that is America's moms and dads," Lee said.
The estimated value of human capital in our economy today — knowledge, talent, social skills people use to generate income — adds up to about $700 trillion. Seen in this light, the family is more than a socializing unit. It's an incubator for human flourish, for personal and economic success and, ultimately, societal success.
–Sen. Mike Lee
He noted there is growing evidence of the economic value of family.
Lessons learned in families such as "empathy, self-restraint and cooperation are essential ingredients not just for good citizenship but also for economic success," Lee said.
The Bureau of Economic Analysis estimates the total value of the nation's physical capital — factories, equipment and tools — at $45 trillion.
"The estimated value of human capital in our economy today — knowledge, talent, social skills people use to generate income — adds up to about $700 trillion. Seen in this light, the family is more than a socializing unit. It's an incubator for human flourish, for personal and economic success and, ultimately, societal success," Lee said.
Given that, the "most audacious entrepreneurs" in America are not high-tech CEOs in Silicon Valley, he said.
"They're young couples saying, 'I do' in church. The most important investments in our nation's future are not issued on Wall Street. They're sleeping in their mothers' arms at the local maternity ward. Building a new conservative agenda of reform built around these moms and dads and kids, remembering America's values and especially America's forgotten families is the path to restoring greatness of our great nation."
