Protecting Marriage, Inc. P.O. Box 7436 • Wilmington, DE 19803 “pledged to end the divorce plague and strengthen families”

FEATURED THIS MONTH:

PMI Hall of Shame

Protecting Marriage, Inc. introduces two men who indulge in the meanest of marital destruction, which we all see too often. Thatcher Longstreth, age 80, has been on the City Council of Philadelphia, PA for many years. Most Philadelphians could not name a member of City Council, but everyone knew Thatcher. Tall, white-haired, elegant and jovial, who adhered to his fashion trademark of Argyle socks, Councilman Longstreth cheerfully assumed the public duties of the city’s most visible Republican. One would, it seemed, see Thatcher and his wife, Nancy, at countless public events. Mrs. Longstreth has been confined to a wheelchair for years, yet she presented a warm, attractive personality as the two greeted his admirers on festive occasions. The Councilman was quite visible throughout the GOP national convention held in Philadelphia this past August.

But rudely, to the rest of us, Mr. Longstreth is now exposed as the phony he clearly is. And we need to look at the well-hidden hypocrisy of the Republican Party, nationally, on Family Values, that his betrayal illuminates so starkly.

Last Sunday, Father’s Day, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported that Mr. Longstreth had filed for divorce on June 6th, after 60 years of marriage! Sixty years of marriage gives lie to the current propaganda (e.g. Smart Marriages website) that marriages will only succeed based on learned "skills" of the two partners. Sixty years or forty, or even twenty, are a marker of marriage succeeding, and then a unilaterally decided no-fault divorce can be demanded and will be granted, automatically, by the courts. What has failed is the character of one spouse. One of the two spouses will quickly find his or her life, with all its work, love, and accomplishments, virtually destroyed almost overnight. The Longstreths have grown children.

Once again, there is here the unspeakable interference of the Other Woman, the Councilman’s Chief of Staff, Melanie Hopkins, age 51. His office personnel say that they plan to marry. Witnesses report she cultivated his dependence on her as they were seen often together at official daytime functions. What was being accomplished, also, was a transfer of Mr. Longstreth’s loyalty from Nancy Longstreth, now 80. The author of Sudden Endings succinctly points out that if the man is a victim of a bonding crisis to his wife, then the other woman is his willing collaborator. It is time for the Family Values party, above all others, to exhibit some integrity on the laws that frame family disasters such as this. Pennsylvania, with its Republican Governor, Tom Ridge, should re-introduce an Alienation of Affections law now, similar to the law in North Carolina and 13 other states that often produce huge jury awards to innocent spouses who were helpless, like Mrs. Longstreth, in the face of a marital predator. Men who have been violated by such marriage infiltration, have used that law successfully as often as innocent wives have done so.

And we have to brave the winds of awful, if silly, social compliance by voicing our severe condemnation of this kind of behavior and those who commit it and particularly against those we know who actually endorse it. Speak out and speak up. The facts on the societal effects of divorce are beyond dispute, and new research reports actually name moderate Republicans as the political group who most supports divorce-on-demand regardless of guilt or innocence, and regardless of the devastation to our children; an incredible finding and a sure-footed definition of Family Values hypocrisy.

In North Carolina, they now have a bill in committee to rescind their Alienation of Affections law, predictably pushed by the lawyers, who know that their law reduces the occurrence of divorce in North Carolina simply by the accountability it suggests to marriage destroyers. Fewer divorces means fewer legal fees to extort. But regrettably, their intentions fall into a national pattern that we, if we dare claim our own integrity on Family policy, must demand a change in laws from our elected leaders. Your phone calls to state Representatives and Governor’s offices in your state can achieve this.

In Philadelphia, the phone number of City Council is 215.686.3442. The Republican leader of the PA state House of Representatives, John Perzel, is at 215.331.2600. Republican: Family Values: Hypocrisy. Don’t lose sight of that.

The second promised name onto the PMI Hall of Shame is 8th Term Congressman Cass Ballenger of North Carolina (Hickory). Learn exactly how he has trashed his ethics on our Military page, at month’s end, as he extends and continues a vicious legislative idea (H.B. 1983) that even the Department of Defense finds embarrassing.

Keep Nancy Longstreth in your prayers, and even perhaps, Thatcher Longstreth, too.

CHILDREN & CUSTODY  MEDIA SCAN

FAMILY RESEARCH COUNCILS

  MILITARY DIVORCES

NOTES AND NOTICES LETTER FROM PMI PRESIDENT

STATEMENT  STATISTICS STATUTES SURVEY