People Aren’t Having Babies. What Should Be Done About It?
Well, let’s just say it starts with Republicans
The baby-bust is all over the news. Pieces have appeared in Scientific American, Politico, Huffpost, the Atlantic (just today as I write this), the National Review, Red State, the WSJ, Harvard Magazine, you name it. It’s everywhere. The New York Times has had four or five major pieces on this topic in just the past few months, including two this week.
The effects of the baby-bust will play out over decades, but people are panicking over it like we’re going to go off the cliff next week. Youtube is full of videos, mostly from self-described conservatives, warning us that this is an existential threat to…well, population growth.
There is a heavy subtext of racism to these complaints, especially when they simultaneously complain that there is too much immigration, but let’s leave that aside. It’s gotten to the point where people are suggesting we bully or bribe women into having more babies. In some other countries, by the way, it has already started.
Now we have clowns like JD Vance, who says that people without kids have no stake in the country’s future, so let’s punish them with higher taxes and less voting rights! If he is so worried about the country’s future, why do he and his party always vote against stuff that would actually make it more appealing and more realistic to have families?
So, JD, consider this an open invitation to solve this problem that so vexes you. JD, you are a Senator, so you supposedly have some clout. Here are some obvious things you could support (I promise you if you sponsor any of these, you would have more than 50 votes to make it happen!)
1. Paid maternity or paternity leave for new parents
2. Several weeks a year of paid time off for parents with sick children
3. Subsidized child care for all
4. Planned Parenthood — including abortion services so people have children they actually want.
5. IVF clinics
While we are at it, here are some things which are not directly connected to making families, but would also help:
1. Support labor unions instead of destroying them.
The same people who say they support “traditional values” are the ones who destroy unions. But unions were the reason that working class families could exist on a single income! You like traditional families? Then stop pulling the rug out from under them.
You have made it abundantly clear that you believe in traditional gender roles-at least for the rest of us (never mind that your wife is a successful lawyer — not to mention, a brown foreigner!) Make it possible for people to choose the traditional lifestyle without risking starvation.
2. Take climate change seriously. It’s not a hoax — and you know it!
10–20% of young couples who are opting not to have kids say their №1 reason is fear that the environment will be hostile or unlivable for their kids. Give them a reason to reconsider.
3. Bring back strong financial regulation.
“What does that have to do with having babies?” Well, a lot. Four decades of deregulation have allowed a small number of people to vacuum up all the wealth created over the previous 240+ years in this country. No wonder there is so little left over for the rest.
They may not know how it happened, and you may get them to blame it on the wrong people, but either way, they can’t afford families.
I know you call yourself a Republican, which means being allergic to every one of the above suggestions. But it’s obvious your convictions are “flexible” — your newfound support of the Big Lie kind of proves that. So why not be flexible here? Bullying and insulting women is not going to get them to have more babies. So how about the carrot instead?
Just sayin’!
