Hoyt's Opinion March 22, 2006

Birth Dearth?

March 22, 2006

Earlier this week I was reading one of my favorite weekly newsletters, the Pro-Life Wisconsin Monday Update, when I saw the phrase "birth dearth" for the first time. Call me shielded, uneducated or whatever, but I honestly thought it was a type-o until I read the article.

For those like me who are clueless let me first explain what birth dearth is. Apparently we as a society are having fewer children than before. This trend of "lower than replacement-value birth rates" has been labeled "birth dearth". According to Dictionary.com, the word dearth means a scarce supply or shortage. If I had gone to college I would probably have known that.

At this point I'm going to quote from the Pro-Life Wisconsin article, and yes - I did ask for permission before reprinting this (to read the full article go to:
<http://www.prolifewisconsin.org/monday_update.htm>):

<--- begin forward --->
In Germany the Deutsche Welle reported that in 2005 Germany had the lowest number of births in 60 years. Germany's birth rate is the lowest in the European Union, a mere 8.5 births per 1,000 citizens as opposed to the United State's birth rate of 14.1 births per 1,000 citizens. The birth crisis has become a major political issue in Germany with both major parties in the country rushing to grab credit for pushing family-friendly policies that might reverse this trend.

In the US, however, the problem of the so-called "birth dearth" is proving to be politically divisive. In last Tuesday's edition of USA Today, Phillip Longman sounded the alarm about a half-century long shift to the right in American's political views resulting from liberals having smaller families than conservatives.

Apparently, ever since the 1950's liberal, progressive minded types have been having small families with one child, or often with no children at all, while more conservative, family-values oriented families have been raising relatively larger families. Phillip Longman and others at USA Today seem to be particularly bothered by this trend. In fact, Longman went so far as to blame John Kerry's election loss two years ago on the birth dearth among so-called progressives.

This shift in our political culture is obviously another consequence of the contraceptive mentality. Before our country bought into the notion of so-called "family planning", both conservatives and liberals came from families of roughly equal size. It was only after people began to treat their family size like some sort of business plan that the value placed on children became reflected in our nation's demographics. The irony here is that the same people who supported Planned Parenthood's agenda of "every child a wanted child" are now wishing they had wanted children.

When contraception was foisted on us all in the 1960's, it was claimed to be a deeply personal choice, and those of us who saw potential problems were told to mind our own business. The birth dearth and its subsequent effects on our political culture prove that contraception is more than just a personal choice. Contraception hurts us all.
<--- end forward --->

OK, first of all, 14.1 births per 1,000 people in the United States??? That means my family accounts for 25% of the population increase per 1,000 people!! And I know at least four other families with six or more children, so taking these five families into consideration that's 70.5 births per 5,000 people on average and we account for 31 of those births, or nearly half the national population increase coming from five families here in Wisconsin!!

Now I know I'm using 'fuzzy math' but I did that on purpose to make a point, although a bit ridiculous.

Liberals are crying about the shift to a more conservative perspective because "we" are having more babies than "they" are, and of course raising our children to be conservative.

But this problem goes way beyond a pro-life versus a controlled family planning mentality.

Our government continues to run a deficit budget, even with the knowledge that in twenty or less years there won't be a tax base to cover the debt.

As the now retiring baby boomer population grows older and draws more from social security the very real fact that there is no trust fund and the fact that there will be fewer workers because of the wonderful family planning initiative of fifty plus years ago, those of us who have been obedient to God's command of 'be fruitful and multiply' also have to know that our children will be slaves to the tax system more than ever before.

Just one more reason to become active in promoting the Constitution Party's Platform of repealing the 16th Amendment.

We could even use this as a tactic against those in power -- one that we've seen work very effectively for the liberals.

"We need to pay off the deficit and repeal the federal tax for the children! To leave the next generation with a bill they didn't incur and require them to pay a debt they do not owe isn't fair. We'll be starving them out of existance if they have to contribute 75% or more of their income to support federal programs." That text read over scenes of starving Americans with a few dollars in hand and an imposing Uncle Sam figure standing over them with his hand out seeking more...

I should go into marketing! But seriously, the Constitution Party began as the U.S. Taxpayer's Party for a very good reason. WE recognize the Federal Income Tax to be nothing more than organized slavery and WE seek to have the 16th Amendment repealed on Constitutional grounds yes, but also for the sake of the next generation and beyond.

On a final note, although my subject line reads "Weekly Commentary" I obviously haven't sent anything for a couple weeks now. I will do my very best to provide my thoughts, opinions, rantings, whatever on a regular basis but sometimes life will get in the way. If you ever want to know what's going on feel free to shoot me a note and ask. But beware, I may just ask you what your opinion is in an effort to recruit more voices for freedom in this land!

	For God and Country,

	Daniel M. Hoyt A guy from Oshkosh (with a list)
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