Politico: Far Right wants more babies.
Real Clear Politics: Have more babies.
Based on recent articles, we are supposed to worry about not having enough babies and people who worry about not having enough babies.
Back in the 1980’s, before we were afraid all the time, I supported several environmental groups. Sierra Club, World Wildlife Fund and a few others. Never Greenpeace, they were already crazy. World population was an issue of interest, so I supported a group called Negative Population Growth.
They were completely reasonable, but in retrospect, I can see how they could go off-the-rails in a catastrophic way.
NPG wanted a discussion about what an optimum world population would be, then policies that moved us in that direction. They were clear about not wanting to get rid of anyone, cull the herd or do anything to rapidly bring down the world population. NPG didn’t view humans as a virus infecting Mother Earth.
NPG figured for the US, the optimum population would be about 160 million people. At that level, the US could be self-sufficient and sustainable while the population lives prosperous and fulfilling lives. That is about half of our current population, and for a first-cut, seems plausible.
The US population was about 250 million people at that time. By limiting immigration, we could get to that target in 80 to 100 years. About 2 million people immigrate to the US each year, along with an unknown number of illegal immigrants. That seemed entirely plausible.
I am not afraid of the world running out of babies. The pro-growth mindset believes that if you aren’t winning, you are losing. If you aren’t growing, you are dying. The world population is stabilizing and probably will decline. At some point, it will pick up again.
Much of our economy depends on growth. We need new workers to support the retirees. Social Security is built on this premise. We need young care-givers to tend to the elderly. Here is why I’m not worried.
We keep hearing that AI and automation will replace millions of workers. Universal Basic Income is necessary because there won’t be sufficient jobs to go around. I don’t believe in either of those two statements. Hiring anyone to do anything is expensive and jobs are difficult to fill. That doesn’t look to change anytime soon. The jobs in demand will change, but that always happens.
The average age of retirement is 62 years old. I’m 64 years-old with many friends of about the same age. We could work another 10 years, but the job would need to be engaging, fulfilling, flexible and without unnecessary stress. We like to be productive, but don’t need the money. The job doesn’t even have to be interesting if we like the people we work with. Management would have to be respectful and accommodating. Having management improve would be good for all workers.
My retiree friends are or have elderly parents. At about 75 years-old, independent living becomes a challenge. At about 85 years-old, full-time care, or at least monitoring, becomes necessary. The timeline varies wildly. My neighbor is 97 years old and is starting to notice that he lacks energy and gumption.
Many of us have seen our parents deteriorate and want no part of that. Dementia is horrible for everyone. The loss of independence due to physical disabilities is tragic. Assisted suicide can go off-the-rails. The government is paying the bills for elderly healthcare, so they aren’t a disinterested party. Attitudes need to change and a balance needs to be struck.
The Progressives are worried about the people worried about running out of babies aren’t any better. A few articles call the natalists, “the new eugenics”. That’s rich, because eugenics was always a tool of the Progressives. Margaret Sanger, the patron saint of abortion was a proudly in favor of eugenics.
Honestly, eugenics doesn’t sound like that bad of an idea. Better people have better babies. That’s just science. Like many ideas with some merit, it’s pretty easy for eugenics to go off-the-rails.
In corporate media, do they ever say “the right”? It’s always “the far right”, and their ideas are always quite conventional.
The natalists don’t want to explode the population. Fertility is declining, all developed nations have a declining birth rate, and the people coming from undeveloped countries with a booming baby count aren’t that great. It’s not my fault that genetics is a real thing.
It would be great if Progressives stopped being crazy and everyone else stopped just reacting to their craziness. Everyone should be able to say things that are true, and agree to a few basic facts. Then we could come up with a long-term plan that works for everyone.