The Flight of the Father, By Mrs. Vera West

The essay "The Iniquity of the Fathers" by John Leake on The Focal Points (a Substack publication), explores the multi-generational fallout from the decline or "flight" of strong, virtuous fathers in contemporary Western society — what the author frames as the "modern regime."

The core thesis draws directly from the biblical warning in Exodus 20:5 (and parallels like Exodus 34:7, Numbers 14:18, Deuteronomy 5:9): God describes Himself as "visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me." The author interprets this not as arbitrary divine punishment but as an ancient recognition of real psychosocial consequences that flow from fathers failing in their covenantal roles — absence, weakness, chaos, or abdication of masculine virtues. These failures create cascading, self-reinforcing problems across generations.

Key arguments include:

Father absence as epidemic: In the U.S., about 25% of children under 18 (roughly 19 million) live in single-mother households, the highest rate globally. Boys grow up without masculine role models or guidance in "husbandry" (family leadership and provision), while girls develop "father wounds" that make them sabotage stable relationships, recreating familiar instability or drama.

Weak or feminised fathers: Even when physically present, many modern fathers lack backbone, yielding to cultural pressures, avoiding conflict, or enabling harmful behaviours. Examples include anecdotes of parents relocating to trans-friendly areas to support a child's transition, or fathers who fail to provide firm boundaries.

Link to gender ideology and transgender phenomena: The piece cites psychological research (e.g., Richard Green's 1974 work on sexual identity conflict) suggesting that a key factor in boys exhibiting cross-gender behaviour is the absence of discouragement from primary caretakers (often mothers in single-parent homes). Celebrities are highlighted as case studies: a single mother encouraging her son's exploration of feminine expression without pushback, framed as part of a broader cultural non-discouragement of such behaviours.

Institutional reinforcement: Schools (91% female teachers in many contexts) often promote gender ideology, filling the void left by absent/weak fathers and perpetuating the cycle.

The "flight of the father" refers to this broad retreat — through divorce culture, cultural devaluation of masculinity, ideological shifts, and men failing to embody reasonable, grown-up virtues. The result is a society plagued by instability, gender confusion, relational sabotage, and psychosocial ills that echo down to the third and fourth generations, mirroring the biblical "iniquity" mechanism.

The tone is urgent and lamenting, blending biblical exegesis, statistics, psychology, and contemporary examples to argue that most modern societal dysfunction traces back to this paternal failure. The disaster is multi-generational breakdown: boys unequipped for family life, girls drawn to chaos, families fragmenting further, and cultural ideologies accelerating the void. Reversal requires acknowledging the pattern, but the author notes deep indoctrination makes it difficult.

The "flight of the father" in this so-called modern regime isn't just a biblical echo — it's a full-blown civilisational crisis.

At its core, the theme nails a brutal reality: fathers have been vanishing — or worse, neutered — from the family equation, leaving a vacuum that sucks in chaos. Stats paint a grim picture: By the mid-2020s, around 23% of U.S. kids were growing up in father-absent homes, with black communities hit hardest at over 50%. That's not just a number; it's a predictor. Fatherless boys are 4x more likely to drop out of school, 9x more prone to incarceration, and girls from these setups face higher risks of teen pregnancy and abusive relationships. It's like removing the stabilising thrusters from a spaceship — sudden veers into asteroid fields become inevitable. The essay's right: this isn't divine pettiness; it's cause-and-effect. Absent dads mean no modelings of "husbandry" — that old-school term for leading, providing, and enforcing boundaries without turning into a tyrant. Instead, kids inherit emotional debt, paying it forward in broken homes of their own.

We're talking a cocktail of no-fault divorce laws (skyrocketing since the '70s), welfare systems that inadvertently incentivise single motherhood, and a cultural tide that's redefined masculinity as "toxic" while glorifying perpetual adolescence. In a world where "adulting" is a meme and therapy-speak trumps tough love, fathers are often reduced to optional accessories — ATM dads or weekend visitors at best, soy-latte-sipping enablers at worst. The essay spotlights weak dads caving to gender ideology, like relocating for a kid's "transition" without a fight. Politically incorrect truth bomb: This ties into a surge in transgender identification among youth, often correlating with family instability. Studies (like those from the '70s onward) show that without paternal pushback, early cross-gender behaviors can snowball, amplified by schools where 90%+ of elementary teachers are women pushing inclusive curricula. It's not conspiracy; it's pattern recognition. The regime's "progress" has flighted fathers into irrelevance, birthing a generation of Peter Pans and Wendys lost in Neverland.

This disaster feels like a multi-generational recursion error. Iniquities aren't mystical; they're memetic. A dad bolts or buckles, his son grows up rage-fuelled or risk-averse, marries poorly (or not at all), and the cycle reboots. Daughters, craving the absent stability, chase drama or domineer, perpetuating the void. Broader fallout? Sky-high anxiety epidemics, crumbling birth rates (demographic winter), and societies fracturing along identity lines. It's disastrous because families are the base code of civilization — bug them, and the whole system crashes. Elon might call it a "population collapse vector."

Yet, here's the hopeful sign: Cycles can be debugged. Reclaim fatherhood as a heroic quest — teach virtue, enforce consequences, model resilience. Ditch the regime's script; embrace the biblical blueprint or its secular analogues (Stoicism, anyone?). If dads "fly back" with purpose, those third- and fourth-generation curses break. Don't panic, but do parent like the species depends on it, because it does!

https://www.thefocalpoints.com/p/the-iniquity-of-the-fathers