Possibly the most ridiculous bumper sticker of them all...

 Continuing with the Ramaswamy bumper stickers, we get this bizarre assertion:

The nuclear family is the greatest form of governance known to mankind.

I don't understand how this is even supposed to be a political statement. Public policy doesn't dictate people's household structure or their living arrangements, which nowadays are generally similar the world over. The nuclear family is not a form of "governance," it's a social arrangement. And looking at the dark backward and abysm of time*, it's a fairly recent invention.

 

On the African savanna, before we made the Big Mistake of agriculture, we believe, based on observation of foraging societies in historic times and on agricultural evidence, that people generally lived in bands of 20 or maybe 30 individuals. As an adult, in addition to your own spouse and children, you were living with your siblings, your parents, your cousins, nieces and nephews, aunts and uncles, and if they were lucky to live long enough, great and grand all of the above. Actually, since people started having babies as soon as it was biologically possible, the generations were short and living 45 to 50 years was enough to be in the grandparent, great aunt, or even great grandparent category.

Although women probably mostly suckled their own babies, and there was presumably some expectation of marital fidelity, the economic and social unit was the entire band. Food that was foraged or hunted was shared with everyone. Children were a collective responsibility. Although people were likely to invest a bit more in their own children than their nieces and nephews, everyone had authority and responsibility for all the children. This form of society dissolved into more limited families with the advent of agriculture, settlement, and substantial dwellings. I say more limited, not nuclear, because multi-generational and possibly multi-sibling households were generally commonplace, and of course polygamy was the norm in some societies. 

Our society is much more fragmented. Most people move during their life course, even very long distances, and there are few extended families that constitute households or economic units. The nuclear family -- Mom, Dad, 2 1/2 kids -- or empty nest or single households are indeed the norm. Whether this is the greatest anything, let alone the "greatest form of governance known to mankind," is a question you can answer for yourself. But why this assertion constitutes a reason to vote for one candidate over another is a profound mystery.

*Prospero asks Miranda, "What seest thou else in the dark backward and absym of time?"