Mac-Coleman

16 February 2013 –

I just finished an excellent book on falling birth rates throughout the world, their myriad causes, their effects on culture and economy, and what can be done to reverse this calamity.  I recommend the book even to those who don’t get all excited about statistics.  Jonathan V. Last, a senior writer at The Weekly Standard, convincingly argues in “What to Expect When No One’s Expecting,” that government programs, incentives, and efforts are not the key to reversing this long-term demographic trend, which will, if left unchecked, seriously damage society through the generations. 

Of particular note, Mr. Last makes the case that falling birth rates are the results of complex societal and cultural dynamics.  Most government programs, including Social Security, either do little to reverse falling fertility trends or they exacerbate their effects.  Tinkering with the tax code to provide incentives to have larger families may have some limited effects.  But, since all government deeds are controlled by the law of unintended consequences, monetary incentives may indeed cause more problems than they are intended to solve.  Simply put, the situation is not the government’s to address. 

Mr. Last stressed at the end of his short book that religion and practicing Christians in our society could be the avenue by which we correct our demographic imbalance.  Those who believe and practice their religion, Catholics and evangelical Protestants were specifically noted, are just about the only groups in the U.S. having enough babies to replace themselves.  He did not mention Latter-day Saints specifically, but did refer several times to the states that have the healthiest birth rates.  Figuring prominently on the list were those states with large LDS communities.  He ended by contending that the most compelling reason to have more than one or two children in today’s self-centered, pleasure-and-“happiness”-seeking society seems to be that, for believers, God wants them to have babies.  Nothing else seems to push people today to have more than one child. 

The baby crisis and how to resolve it are worth serious discussion.  Government programs do not resolve such complex societal issues.  The strength of religious beliefs and practices in America seems to be the only consistent reason why people marry and have more than one or two children today.  This tells me that there never has been a more important time in our history than now to continue to declare our beliefs in the public forum and to be a directive force in our society.  Our life styles and goals, driven as they are by our beliefs, are and should be a major bulwark to the stability and strength of our country.   Fortunately, if we believers continue to have the majority of babies in the next two generations, there will be more voices than ever calling for a return to traditional morality and virtues in America.  No one else will do what we do.