I was reading the diary on America's Family Crisis, and was reminded of an article I'd read a few months ago regarding the Western world's declining birthrate and its implications for the future.
One of the article's main points was that all things being equal, a declining birth rate would eventually lead to a conservative resurgence in much of the Western world.
At any rate, I thought it interesting enough to post parts of it here. At very least, it puts the lie to the idea that it's only right wingers who're concerned about the decline of the family.
Across the globe, people are choosing to have fewer children or none at all. Governments are desperate to halt the trend, but their influence seems to stop at the bedroom door. Are some societies destined to become extinct? Hardly. It's more likely that conservatives will inherit the Earth. Like it or not, a growing proportion of the next generation will be born into families who believe that father knows best.
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Throughout the broad sweep of human history, there are many examples of people, or classes of people, who chose to avoid the costs of parenthood. Indeed, falling fertility is a recurring tendency of human civilization. Why then did humans not become extinct long ago? The short answer is patriarchy.
Patriarchy does not simply mean that men rule. Indeed, it is a particular value system that not only requires men to marry but to marry a woman of proper station. It competes with many other male visions of the good life, and for that reason alone is prone to come in cycles. Yet before it degenerates, it is a cultural regime that serves to keep birthrates high among the affluent, while also maximizing parents' investments in their children. No advanced civilization has yet learned how to endure without it.
Full story here