America has once again joined in on the greatest magic trick since David Copperfield somehow got Claudia Schiffer not to laugh at him. But this magic trick is much bigger. America has joined Europe in attempting to make all of Western civilization disappear.
And it might just take a miracle to stop us.
Congratulations America. We’ve officially contracepted and aborted our way into becoming a sad mimic of Europe. We’ve separated love from sex, reproduction from marriage, and spending from responsibility. We’re going great!
America is back below birth rate replacement levels just like those imbeciles in Europe we model ourselves after, says Lifesite. According to The U.S. National Vital Statistics Report, the U.S. birth rate dropped below replacement levels in 2008 to 2.08 births per woman, below the 2.1 level needed to replace the population.
For the past few years, America’s been able to keep its head just above water at just above the replacement level.
And according to The Catholic Thing:
The other (and really bad) news is that the percentage of children born out of wedlock birth has continued to rise. This year, for the first time, it broke through the 40 percent level. . .rising for all groups and all ages.
And now that the push is on to make marriage a redefinable and fungible proposition I’m not seeing that number get better any time soon.
And here’s the real kicker while we’re borrowing billions of dollars from theoretical future generations we’re actually forgetting to have actual future generations to pay for our bender. Our whole intergenerational Ponzi scheme depends on babies being born and yet we can’t even sober up enough to have children.
Yeah, this whole free love irresponsible half-century long Woodstock is working out really well.
And with televised contraception ads touting “freedom” and abortion referred to as “choice” and a President who refers to babies as “punishments” does anyone see this getting better anytime soon?
April 16, 2010 at 5:09 am
Dude, take a breath! Don't focus too much on the junk. Sure it's there, but God is still good.
April 16, 2010 at 6:17 am
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_territories_by_fertility_rate
Tonga, Kazakhstan, Iceland, New Zealand, France, Thailand, Norway, Finland, U.K., Azerbaijan, Denmark, Sweden, Serbia, Australia, mainland China, Belgium, Trinidad/Tobago, Canada, Estonia, Portugal, Channel Islands, Austria, Spain, Armenia, Italy, Germany, Russia, Greece, Bulgaria, Romania, Latvia, Slovenia, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Ukraine, Hong Kong, Macau.
These are the 37 places which have had their fertility rate (births per woman) go up, out of 195 listed. A handful have remained the same… but the overwhelming majority have decreased. The world fertility rate itself has decreased. With the exception of Tonga, all the countries listed above need have little concern that their birth rate is going up, because it's still below replacement rate anyway.
Overpopulation? That's ridiculous.
April 16, 2010 at 12:39 pm
Considering the fact that the US fertility rate has been below 2.1 since 1972, with 2006 and 2007 being the exceptions over a 36 year span, I don't think it's time to declare "the end is near" just yet.
In the 70's and 80's, the US fertility rate averaged around 1.8. A much more worrisome number than 2.08 I would think.
April 16, 2010 at 1:39 pm
This is terrible! It's like the whole "where sin abounds…" theory (which of course is true).
The grace is that the babies are being allowed to be born, the sin is that co-habitation is on the rise. What happened to holy marriages? Where's the example of fidelity for these lost souls who have bought the lie that "as long as we love our kids, we can still make a strong family"? My foot! Having grown up in it, I can tell you, there's no replacement for a strong marriage to define the role of a mother and a father!
April 16, 2010 at 1:51 pm
Oh I agree that, as a matter of practical fact, the Boomers have quite likely contracepted themselves out of a safety net. That is part of the reason why turning all of health care over to our government right now in the present context is an especially crazy thing to do.
Boomers may not see themselves as essentially equivalent to inconvenient foetuses which can be quietly disposed of out of sight in a clinical and sanitary manner in order to avoid the expense and hassle of their existence.
But in the words of the prophet Iron Maiden, βyour time will comeβ. –Zippy
April 16, 2010 at 3:32 pm
My wife and I are doing our best to move that 2.08 number just a tiny bit higher. We are expecting baby #4 later this year. π
April 16, 2010 at 4:31 pm
Keep going, Paul! We're expecting #10! (All since we got married, and all on our own nickel!) Sometimes it makes me sad… and angry… that they'll have to live in this off-kilter world. But each child is an act of hope, isn't he/ she?
April 16, 2010 at 4:57 pm
This is likely to correct itself a little more abruptly than we could ever imagine… all the anti-kid types are already finding themselves outnumbered. It will only get worse now that the Boomers have stopped having children, started to retire from academia, and can no longer impart ideology over knowledge to the impressionable young.
Now the current administration is busy sticking ever-more-heavy burdens on a foundation that was never sound to begin with… it looks like the end of things, but it could just as easily be the last-gasp death-rattle of the kind of intrusive government we've lived under our whole lives.
When it goes to smash, it may take the old America with it, but I have hope. The generation to come will cause a better and happier civilization to rise from what's left. They will have to be better and happier to meet the coming storm from Eurabia and the de-facto conquered nations. Mortal danger focuses one very admirably on essentials.
My wife and I have no children yet, but it would be an honor to contribute even one to that great work to come. I would not whine about how terrible a world he was born into, because the world has always had terrible aspects; I would be proud that he was out there improving it, shining one more light into the darkness.
April 16, 2010 at 6:38 pm
We're trying our best to contribute. We just had #5 but these dang deployments are our "barrier" method. My best friend just found out this morning they're expecting #9! π woohoo! See, God is GREAT!!!!!!!
April 16, 2010 at 7:44 pm
#9 is scheduled for delivery in 16 days. And believe you me, I am counting the days… π
April 16, 2010 at 8:40 pm
I'm encouraged to hear that the people pulling the average up are the ones building the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth- so really, it's just the crazy culture of death liberals killing off their own future… I guess that's our silver lining!
April 16, 2010 at 9:59 pm
Muslims do not abort their children. During the Afghan war a female British reporter bragged to a Muslim woman that she was a single mom with one child. Said the Muslim woman to the reporter: "I have 21 children, and my children will kill your children."
April 16, 2010 at 10:53 pm
We need to import more Mexicans. That'll fix it.
April 17, 2010 at 4:13 am
Not really, Arturo. Then we'll just have Mexico…and North Mexico.
But no United States of America.
April 17, 2010 at 4:36 am
Funnily, I came to the comments specifically to post that we should just be thankful that Mexicans care more about the values that founded America than most Americans do, so we should be glad they want to come, let them in, and then have a whole host of young, breeding Catholic Americans! Apparently there's already some disagreement over that solution, though.
At any rate, I always tell my girlfriend we'll be having 16 kids. She's not keen on the idea. Honestly I wouldn't be keen on that many either, but I figure if I keep driving the really big numbers into her head, 8 or so won't sound so bad.
April 17, 2010 at 3:43 pm
Craig,
The fertility rate includes rates for all residents including immigrants, legal or otherwise. The uptick refelcts the passage of the Baby Boomers going through thier "fertile years". If you do the math it is evident that only immigration can account for our population increase -that and better medicine. People are living longer, and having less children. This means that our population is getting progressively older.
But the US is the good news. Check out the total fertility rate of the G-20 nations. The wealthiest nations are contracepting and aborting themselves into extinction. Even in India, where the total fertility rate is above 3.0, has a fertility rate of less than 2.0 with its more wealthy middle class citizens. Even nations like Thailand, where just a generation ago had a TFR of over 6, is now below 2.0 .
From a purely economic point of view this is a disaster. Funny, how no economists have picked this up. The majority of the world's wealth is tied up in nations that are rapidly aging. Not only will these nations consume this wealth to care for thier elderly, but the private wealth these elderly possess will be spent and not invested.
Since 1980, the world saw a historic economic boom. This mirrored not only the genius of free market societies but also the glut of well educated, prosperous Baby Boomers producing and consuming at reacord levels. But these nations also imposed historic increases in entitlements, which in turned need a large well-off, young working class to pay into. Globally, the G-20 nations have built an inverted tax system which cannot be sustained. A consumer based society needs both consumers and producers in sufficient numbers to sustain it. Just look at Medicare; through 2080 it will require around $50 trillion. That is equal to all of the private and public assests in the US.
The world is on a cusp of an economic re-alingment, which will see an overall drop in standards of living. The root cause is a lack of children. This is something that cannot be changed overnight. Women today are such an intergral part of our work force that it is unthinkable that today's young families will do and about face and have 4-6 children. Yes, a nation can chose to limit thier offspring to 1-2 per family; it can also chose to offer an expansive, expensive entitlement system. But it cannot do both.
April 18, 2010 at 4:27 pm
"a nation can chose to limit thier offspring to 1-2 per family; it can also chose to offer an expansive, expensive entitlement system. But it cannot do both."
The problem with this is that those who live in a cradle-to-grave entitlement society have to make grave sacrifices to afford more than 2 children. We have 6 and even on a physician's salary it is tight. We don't have TV or electronic gadgets, I buy almost all our clothes at the thrift store, I use coupons and shop at the military commissary, and cut everyone's hair at home (including my own). I really admire and respect those who have large families and do it on a shoestring budget.