Monday, April 03, 2006
Andrew Sullivan takes on the 'social right' yet again. Too worried about demographics, says the pundit of P-town.
Wealthier societies with fewer people and continued growth are - or should be - a goal for most of us, not a threat.
Well, yes and no. If, like Japan, you are busy investing in capital to conserve human labor for jobs that absolutely must be done by humans, you can indeed maintain your society (for a while) with a negative population growth rate.
If, like Europe, you are busy importing people from cultures that are incompatible with your traditional culture, you have quite another situation on your hands. 7/7 , 3/11, Theo van Gogh, Fortyn, are all examples of the problem you face.
If you are importing people whose government tells them that half their land was taken unjustly by the United States, you also have a problem -- perhaps not as severe, but real none the less.
In other words, an aging and decline population is not a major worry --if you are not letting in millions of immigrants. If you are, you are both endangering some of the gains in standard of living that derive from a less crowded country, and you are ultimately endangering your society.
Wealthier societies with fewer people and continued growth are - or should be - a goal for most of us, not a threat.
Well, yes and no. If, like Japan, you are busy investing in capital to conserve human labor for jobs that absolutely must be done by humans, you can indeed maintain your society (for a while) with a negative population growth rate.
If, like Europe, you are busy importing people from cultures that are incompatible with your traditional culture, you have quite another situation on your hands. 7/7 , 3/11, Theo van Gogh, Fortyn, are all examples of the problem you face.
If you are importing people whose government tells them that half their land was taken unjustly by the United States, you also have a problem -- perhaps not as severe, but real none the less.
In other words, an aging and decline population is not a major worry --if you are not letting in millions of immigrants. If you are, you are both endangering some of the gains in standard of living that derive from a less crowded country, and you are ultimately endangering your society.
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