The population of the earth is now approaching 7 billion with projections for 2.5 billion more people by 2050. With rapidly depleting natural resources, there is a general recognition that the planet cannot support its current population, let alone future growth. A dichotomy exists between the Western world with its declining birth rates and the burgeoning populations in the developing world. The recognition of the limits of population growth has occurred in the Western world first. The response has been a change from societal support for procreation to one of indifference.
Radical Societal Changes
Post World War II, radical societal changes have occurred in America. We have shifted from an agricultural to an urban and suburban culture. Rapid advances in computer technology, communications, and pharmaceuticals have lengthened life. The population has increased and the need for labor has decreased. The subconscious societal response has been a shift away from supporting procreation.
Thus, what do euthanasia, feminism, no fault divorce, legalized birth control, abortion, pornography, and gay marriage have in common? Through legislation and case law we recognize that procreation no longer needs protection. Why? It is unnecessary.
History and Evolution
In agrarian and early industrial societies large numbers of people performed work to sustain themselves and the economy. Large farming families provided a cheap source of labor for planting and harvesting. High levels of infant mortality and early death from wars, injuries and disease buttressed the need for large families. Observe pictures of a 19th century factory and notice that it teems with workers, especially large numbers of women and children. Society put a large premium on reproduction and intact, monogamous families with large numbers of children.
The early Abrahamic religions supported the family and reproduction. In the Five Books of Moses there are prohibitions against killing (in virtually any form), homosexuality, bestiality, harlotry and strictures limiting divorce. These religious proscriptions have been imported into modern legal codes; the state has a monopoly on marriage and divorce. Until recently, divorce was difficult to obtain and “no fault divorce” did not exist. In most states, bans against homosexuality, oral sex, bestiality, adultery and euthanasia are still on the books but rarely enforced.
Why now have we accepted or contemplated radical changes in our legal codes to accommodate gay marriage, abortion or euthanasia? We are no longer a society that promotes procreation. Are we now a society of death? We no longer care whether couples marry or divorce. Women enter the workforce in large numbers, and gay couples marry because we no longer value reproduction. Below the collective consciousness we recognize our burgeoning population and shrinking resources.
Economic 101: Supply and Demand
Reduce all of the above to Economics 101, that is, supply and demand. Right now the supply of people is too high. How has this happened? Medical technology has slowed infant mortality. Better medical care and pharmaceuticals lengthen lives. Women can control their own reproduction. They can enter the workforce rather than tend to large families.
On the demand side, technology has dramatically changed the nature of work. A modern factory no longer has thousands of people producing cars or steel. Gone are the Dickensian portraits of 19th century factory life. Computers, robotics and other labor saving devices allow smaller factories to produce cheaper and better products. Brains have trumped brawn, but the result is a surplus of labor. Combine improved productivity with a surplus of people and large scale unemployment ensues. To offset declining incomes households piled on debt over the last 20 years. Income can no longer can support the ever expanding amount of debt in society
Implications
Since there is no longer an economic mandate to produce large families, American society will tolerate, if not accept, living arrangements which do not support procreation. More states will recognize gay marriage and alternative domestic partner arrangements. Going forward we will also face higher rates of unemployment and declining tax revenues. The “green shoots” that the current US administration trumpets will not include a return to full employment, because there are just too many people.
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