"And Gulliver Returns" Book 1 Reversing Overpopulation--The Planet's Doomsday Threat
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”The things we talked about before. It could be just age, like having to be 16 or 18 or 20. It could be that you have to have graduated from high school. It could be that you had to take a course in parenthood. I don’t think initially it could be all that tough. Just some minimum qualifications that are easy to assess.”
”I think you’re right about starting with unmarried teenagers. You have to get your
foot in the door. It’s like when a government starts a sales tax they start with 1% this year, then as the years roll on they raise it as needed. So as a politician you start to change a program with the smallest group with the weakest voice. Once your idea is established
and people are numbed a bit to the concept, you can go to the next level.”
”I would think that the first place to start would be with women who don’t want children and haven’t the means for contraception. I think you want to start with the voluntary aspects before you move to any legal requirements.
“You are certainly going to have people bringing up the China policy of one child. They may bring up the fact that there were many more boys than girls, that they may need more babies to pay for the pensions of the older people. They may even criticize China
for not being a real democracy.
“That’s probably quite true. But I think I’d answer them this way. The one child policy was certainly better for the world than the previous ideas of having as many babies as you want. Certainly China’s policy has been a major factor in their economic success. While the policy started in the late 1970s, the population kept rising until 2015 when it reached 1.4 billion, then it started to reduce. The population in 2010 had actually increased by 2 ½ times over what it was in 1949 when the People’s Republic was founded. In the 30 years from 1949 to 1978 the population doubled. But in the next 30 years it only went up 40%.(38) The 400 million fewer babies born allowed the government to increase its spending on infrastructure such as education and health. Sometime between now and 2050 their total population will actually start to reduce. But in 2015 the government allowed two children in order to help fund the growing number of pensioners. Instead of increasing the retirement age, they opted for more children. This, of course, will increase their population, increase climate change and eventually require still more children as these additional workers eventually retire.
“And you mentioned that there were more male babies born than girls because the
boys were assumed to be better able to take care of their parents. As we look at the
lessons of history we see that economics is perhaps the basic concern of most people. Relative to having more male babies, in many parts of the world we see girls outnumbering boys in colleges. So if the parents’ concern is for economic security in their old age, it is highly possible that their daughters will be more economically able than
their sons might have been.
”But let’s get into my second major concern. If I can get people to list the most important jobs in a society then look at which ones require a license maybe they will begin to see the importance of parenting. What would you list as among the most
important jobs of our society? Driving a car, designing a building, building a house, being
a dog, having a child, running a nursery school, operating a mortuary--all require a
license except one, and it is the most important.”
”There are other important jobs that don’t require licenses. Legislators, presidents, governors, CEOs, and look at the trouble they have all gotten us into! In fact it looks like our most important jobs don’t require licenses. Why?”
”What kind of a license would you require for our leaders?”
”I would certainly think they should have a knowledge of ethics and economics. They should be experts on the Constitution. They should certainly have some knowledge of politics. I would think that a knowledge of world history and American history should be essential. Some basic knowledge of science—physical, biological and socio- psychological—would be highly useful. So maybe, Wreck, you should advocate leaders
licenses while you’re advocating parents’ licenses.
“One thing at a time, Con. I could push for licenses for teenage parents. Licenses might be able to solve part of the problem of teenage pregnancy. We mentioned that the United States has the highest number of teenage births.
“When you think of the government’s costs to aid these poor parents and when you realize that so many will stop their education once parenthood occurs, you can see the staggering economic costs to the government from not having educated people to fill the jobs available and to reduce the chance of having to pay jobless benefits. So it’s a double negative. Parents can’t get out of poverty because of their children and the children that are born into poverty and are likely to repeat their parents’ behavior.”
“You are certainly going to have some loud voices in opposition. Perhaps you might suggest that the opponents to your plan pay the total costs for any babies born. There are lots of loud voices and they usually expect somebody else to come up with the money for their ideas. I wonder if the legislators should require financial responsibility for the ideas expressed when people use their rights to free speech. There aren’t many who will put the money where their mouth is!”
“ Good point Lee, but as you indicate most people just want to ‘talk the talk’ they expect someone else to pick up the tab. But commander you can certainly emphasize the economic and social costs of raising children. The cost of children will certainly conflict with the desires of adults who want to spend their money on bigger cars or houses or vacations. When you talk ‘money’ it will certainly perk up some ears. And the desire generated by people’s drive for success, for financial or vocational power, or for meaningful jobs in research, teaching or civil service, have already slowed birth rates in the developed countries.
CONFRONTING THE SKEPTICS ON GENOCIDE