Jonathan Last, author of What to Expect When No One’s Expecting, wrote America’s Baby Bust, one of the most insightful, educational pieces on the effects of a population that doesn’t value babies and life.
As a mom of a large family, I have, perhaps, a heightened awareness of the temperature of the culture’s and even my community’s attitude toward children. Ironically, as large families are ostracized, babies are killed in the womb, and almost everyone clings to the idea that fertility is a highly personal decision, it yet remains one of the issues that most dramatically affects all of us. We are not autonomous on this one. The world’s hatred of babies may affect you more than you know!
There are so many good points in this article. I’d love to know your thoughts!
“Once a country’s fertility rate falls consistently below replacement, its age profile begins to shift. You get more old people than young people. And eventually, as the bloated cohort of old people dies off, population begins to contract. This dual problem—a population that is disproportionately old and shrinking overall—has enormous economic, political and cultural consequences.
For two generations we’ve been lectured about the dangers of overpopulation. But the conventional wisdom on this issue is wrong, twice. First, global population growth is slowing to a halt and will begin to shrink within 60 years. Second, as the work of economists Esther Boserups and Julian Simon demonstrated, growing populations lead to increased innovation and conservation. Think about it: Since 1970, commodity prices have continued to fall and America’s environment has become much cleaner and more sustainable—even though our population has increased by more than 50%. Human ingenuity, it turns out, is the most precious resource….
There have been lots of changes in American life over the last 40 years that have nudged our fertility rate downward. High on the list is the idea that “happiness” is the lodestar of a life well-lived. If we’re going to reverse this decline, we’ll need to reintroduce into American culture the notion that human flourishing ranges wider and deeper than calculations of mere happiness.”
Jonathan Last, America’s Baby Bust
Your thoughts?
30 comments
I keep saying Margaret Thatcher was almost correct, the problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s children. Not money. Children. Economies are not built on money, but on people.
You know, Cindy, it seems like if a couple of country girls like us can see something so obvious, anyone could. 😉
Exactly.
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Some times I wonder what causes these fear of babies. The origin has to be in the mind of the individual woman….. Perhaps fears in her own life like abuses or messed up relationships. Bible repeatedly says ‘fear God.’. when woman planted her self in concrete family rather than fertile family….. she only bloom where she planted. More study of scripture keep fears at bay.
Very interesting!
Brilliant. We have 6 children and because we listened to the Lord, 2 of our children didn’t die but would have if we had listened to the government. I don’t know if you are aware but vaccinations are another way that the enemy is trying to kill and maim our children. Cot death is 95% due to the Pertuissis (whooping cough) vaccine (all scientifically and medically documented). Autism is contributed to by vaccination. 2 of our children would have died if we had these. There is mercury, aluminium and other poisons in them. I plead with the community to do their own research. I have researched this for 12 years with the Lord’s guidance and I can assure you all ….. this is just as big of a threat as what abortion is. Some vaccines are grown in aborted feotuses ….. hence why the government won’t prohibit abortion. These are serious matters. The enemy is definitely after our children and we are called to pray to ask the Lord to defeat him and lift the veil of all deception. I so appreciate every one of your blogs! Bless you!!
Thank you Donna. We decided against vaccinating our children. The main reason being that we did not have peace about it. Since then, I have witnessed the children of 2 different friends and one family member suffer ill effects of vaccinating their children. The media hype lately influenced me to start my children on a schedule, but every time I look at the calender (first appointment) I feel sick to my stomach.
Many more people have died from the measles shot than from the measles. Our doctor is a Christian and has done his research. He will not use any vaccination that contain aborted fetal cells. He will not use live virus. He is also able to order MM (measles and mumps) separated from RV. Which he recommends. Praying that the Lord’s will be done. I don’t want to be motivated by fear.
I’m praying for you, Natalie. You are wise in prayerfully seeking the Lord’s will, and not making a decision based on fear.
Peace and blessings.
Thank you friend :). I have been humbled by life (God’s grace) enough to know I am not always right in my beliefs. I desire greatly to be led by the Spirit of God, not by fear.
You’re welcome! And everything you said in this post, I could say about myself. 😉
You are grossly under educated on this issue. Please do actual research from medical sources. Fetuses are not used to cultivate vaccines. Multiple sources of research have indicated that autism is not at all related to vaccines. The doctor initially involved in the research on autism and vaccines has been found to have falsified his evidence in his research and has lost his medical license. Your friend’s comment below that more people have died from the measles shot than from the measles is based on complete and utter ignorance. Please, before you spread more ignorance that leads to the death of more children be open to research other than that which supports your point of view. Look at the issue of the percentage of vaccinated individuals needed to support the “heard” percentage that we need to keep our entire population safe.
Margaret: Look at the issue of the percentage of vaccinated individuals needed to support the “heard” percentage that we need to keep our entire population safe.
“Heard” percentage? Don’t you mean “herd”? LOL
Haha! You’re right, should have been herd, not heard.
I get a kick out of proofreading others’ writings, but sometimes I have to laugh at myself. 😉 Not too long ago, I noticed someone wrote “are” for “our”, and then what did I do on the very. same. day?
Write “our” when I meant “are.” 😛
And completely missed it when I proofread before hitting Submit Comment, too!
I appreciate your sense of humor. 😉
Margaret, You are right about my comment…I meant to say in the past 10 years (concerning measles).
I can tell you are passionate about this issue, but I think it would help for you to season your comment with some grace.
Do you believe that some the medical research may be vulnerable to personal bias and a set agenda?
I do NOT believe that vaccinations are a bad idea. However, I think the recommended schedule may be excessive and unwise for some children.
I don’t have time to argue about this issue. I agree that each parent should do their own research and determine what is best for their family.
Thank you for showing more grace in your reply to me than I did in my reply to you. You are correct that I should season my replies with grace. Please accept my apologies. I greatly dislike trolls who go on web sites and leave nasty, contrary messages and now I’ve gone and done the same thing.
Yes, I am quite passionate about this issue. I know too many people who are not able to get vaccines do to their own health problems and it’s the herd (spelled it right this time!) that helps keep them safe.
Thank you for your kind reply. I am happy to know there is peace between us, despite our different opinions on this issue :).
Just a quick comment to say that after I read the possibility that the tissue some vaccines are grown in comes from aborted fetuses, I researched further. Indeed, it is true. A government website promoting vaccination and giving information said that in the 1960’s the tissues came from legally aborted fetuses and continue from that source today. Legally killed babies.
Donna,
Good for you researching this issue for as long as you have, and with the Lord’s guidance. Continue as the Lord leads, and don’t be bullied by internet strangers who accuse you of being “grossly under educated” and other things just because you have a different perspective.
The following article is a good read that I found at Sharyl Attkisson’s site. (Attkisson is an investigative reporter.) I highly recommend reading the comment section especially, as there is valuable information, and links to medical studies, provided by medical practitioners as well as lay people.
For example, this comment from “bgonen”:
http://sharylattkisson.com/fact-check-anne-schuchats-claim-that-vaccines-cant-cause-brain-damage/
This is the kind of reasoned approach (bgonen’s comment) from which hot-headed members of the medical community could learn. Maybe even some of them would stop shaking their fists at parents who exercise their right to make decisions on behalf of the family they know and love more than any medical personnel ever could, instead of trying to pressure or guilt parents into making decisions that violate the parents’ convictions.
There are other excellent comments at that link, as well, that are well worth one’s time to read them, IMHO.
Blessings to you and any other parents who may be reading this who are diligently searching for answers and praying for the Spirit’s guidance on this issue. He will not lead you astray.
Wishing you the Lord’s peace.
I should clarify that, though my comment just above was addressed to Donna, only the first paragraph was specifically to her. The rest of it in between is directed to a general audience.
Basically everything you’ve written here is an outright lie. Here in Australia a baby just died from whooping cough because of people like you. He wasn’t even a month old when he caught the disease from an unvaccinated individual. Provide actual sources for claiming the pertussis vaccine causes cot death. And be aware I have a friend who was a researcher into cot death for a number of years and this is not anything she ever mentioned. I trust her much more than an internet commenter. Mercury is not in vaccines, and even when thimerosal was used it was in smaller amounts than you get in a can of tuna. Autism is not caused by the MMR vaccine, that has been debunked with so many studies – including one of over 1 million children. Also the man who made the original study was specifically paid to do so, didn’t undertake proper ethical and scientific approaches to his research, and had trademarked his own versions of the vaccines a few months before writing the study – he wanted to use the study to discredit MMR so he could personally profit from selling his vaccines. Please, please read some solid science on this subject, because this is quite literally playing with people’s lives.
Our Australian news has just come to the same conclusion. They have realised that there are not enough people working now to support the people who will retire in 20 years. They are now pushing stay-at-home mums to go to work because, “It isn’t right that taxpayers should be paying mothers to stay at home. They need to contribute to financially to society.” So says our Treasurer. Scary.
I would not say it is hate of babies, but love of self.
Carolina,
I used that word after pondering it. I ended up choosing it because as a general title (of course realizing that a great portion of “the world” doesn’t hate babies) there is a general hatred of babies, manifested in the reality that abortion is legal, fought for, supported and performed extensively. And that kind of hatred does trickle down and influence our attitude of children, as a whole, I think. But yeah, strong word.
It’s also the right word; people have compared unwanted unborn kids to parasites, Kelly. One a while ago said, “Unfortunately the fetus just can’t get a contract signed with the mother’s permission to use her body.” I said, “Wow..yeah, too bad the fetus can’t sign a contract either giving the mother permission to have its body torn apart.”
“Wow” is right. There is so much deception.
Yup. And what’s sickening is that when it comes to looking at biological facts, they’ll list all the horrible things that can happen to a woman’s body in pregnancy and every time they do this, they see it as justification to do awful things to a child’s body. Things he or she won’t recover from; they are so incredibly selfish it amazes them to even consider putting that child first, as though any such consideration was always outrageous.
Interesting, thank you Kelly.
I read Last’s What to Expect When No One’s Expecting a while back and enjoyed it, so this article was a good refresher.
I don’t remember if the author went into more detail in the book, but this part of the article raised some questions in my mind:
“A raft of research shows that if you take two people who are identical in every way except for childbearing status, the parent will be on average about six percentage points less likely to be “very happy” than the nonparent. (That’s just for one child. Knock off two more points for each additional bundle of joy.)”
He doesn’t provide any links to this “raft of research” (although it’s probably easily googled), but it would be interesting to learn more details about how this information was compiled, who was asked, what were their religious backgrounds, ages, and so on.
Also, how the questions were worded in the various surveys can make a difference.
Speaking personally, my happiness level has only increased going from being a non-parent to a parent, and the “knock off two more points for each additional bundle of joy” part has certainly not been the case in our family, nor, I don’t imagine (though I haven’t asked), in the large majority of our friends and family.
We are blessed to apparently be defying the statistics. 😉