High fertility rates are playing a role in presidential politics

[Khephra]

What's the difference between the protesters outside the Republican convention and the delegates inside? There are many, of course, but one will ultimately skew American politics and the culture wars in the Republicans' favor, regardless of who has God or reason on her side. It's the divide between who is having children and who isn't.

Over the past decade, fertility rates among all major American ethnic groups have either remained low or fallen dramatically. Between 1990 and 2002 fertility declined 14 percent among Mexican Americans and 24 percent among Puerto Ricans. African Americans, according to the National Center for Health Statistics, now have a lower average fertility rate than whites, and they are no longer producing enough children to replace their population. But one big difference in fertility rates remains: Conservative, religiously minded Americans are putting far more of their genes into the future than their liberal, secular counterparts.

snip............

Fertility correlates strongly with religious conviction. In the United States, fully 47 percent of people who attend church weekly say that their ideal family size is three or more children. By contrast, only 27 percent of those who seldom attend church want that many kids.

High fertility also correlates strongly with support for George Bush. Of the top 10 most fertile states, all but one voted for Bush in 2000. Among the 17 states that still produce enough children to replace their populations, all but two - Iowa and Minnesota - voted for Bush in the last election. Conversely, the least fertile states - a list that includes Maine, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Connecticut -went overwhelmingly for Al Gore. Women living in Gore states on average have 12 percent fewer babies than women living in Bush states.

http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040909/REPOSITORY/409090306/1037/NEWS04

[smirkymonkey]

1. Fertility also correlates strongly with education...

the dumbasses are having all the kids and voting against their interests like the morans they are.

Now would be a good time for the "Rapture".

[Emillereid]

11. I keep praying to God to 'rapture' these dimwits soon before

they destroy the whole earth! BEAM THEM UP NOW, OH LORD!

These guys are dumbing down the gene pool! Hopefully their kids will revolt and become liberal!

[Wright Patman]

2. I just do not believe

the part about Mexicans. Every Mexican family in Texas has enough kids to reproduce themselves and then some ... a lot more than some in most cases.

Now getting Mexicans to turn out the polls is quite another matter. I think they are used to the one-party state that ruled Mexico until recently and believe, quite reasonaby in terms of their own history, that voting makes no difference.

The irony is that their nonparticipation (and those that do vote 2-1 in favor of Democratic candidates) in our process may make their fatalistic view on politics a reality in this country as well.

[DulceDecorum]

3. Hands up

those of you who actually believe that
the party of Rush Limbaugh and Bob Dole is reproducing swiftly.

[phantom power]

4. I believe it completely.

It's been established for years that high birth rate correlates with lower education, lower economic standing, and religeous fundamentalism.

All three of those groups identify heavily with the Republican party, and (neo)conservatism in general.

[beyurslf]

5. Latinos are the fastest growing segment of our population.

Many are devoutly Catholic. I find it hard to believe that they are not having enough children to replace their numbers.

[Xithras]

7. Latino population growth is largely fueled by immigration

Latinos are certainly more likely to have larger families than any other ethnic group, but the average Latino family has 2-4 children, not 7, 10, or 12 like some would have you believe.

[Joanne98]

8. I don't. this confirms studies in Mexico

Birth rates for mexicans in Mexico have fallen to about 3 or 4 children. It used to be higher 7 or 8. It makes sense that they have fallen here too, because they were so high before.

This study is correct. The real story is that the "values voters" are RACIST. They planned this all out in the 70's. It was never about abortion, it was about WASP.

[Joanne98]

6. I told you it was the Pro-WHITE-life movement

The CHRISTIANS were the ones who lobbyed the hardest for "Welfare Reform". Look at the black birth rate, NOW after guess what, Welfare Reform. What the conservative christians have done is "increase their birth rate while decreasing minorities (especially blacks) at the same time." The pro-life movement is a COVERT RACIST movement. But we need more proof. If we get it they're DOOMED because it's absolute proof of how fucking EVIL they are. I'm bookmarking this.

[AspenRose]

9. Definitely has some eugenic overtones.

You have a point.

[Joanne98]

10. Here's a good book.........

Downsizing Civilization

In “The Empty Cradle,” Phillip Longman delivers a bracing diagnosis of a liberal disease: falling birth rates and a coming population implosion. But his liberal cures fall laughably short.

By Christopher DeSales



To correspond accurately with its contents, a more honest title for Dr. Phillip’s Longman's book, The Empty Cradle: How Falling Birthrates Threaten World Prosperity and What To Do About It would have been something like: Tsunami: How the Unprecedented Collapse of Birthrates Everywhere Will Destroy Modern Civilization; and Why Nothing Will Prevent That. The New America Foundation, a neo-liberal think-tank founded in 1999, of which Dr. Longman is a senior fellow and which presumably funded research for the book, arguably prefers the more modest title chosen. The book appears to be their try at putting a liberal spin on a crisis first identified by conservatives. That accounts for the interesting, if laughable (as the author himself more or less regularly admits) recommendations in the last 24 pages of this 196-page reflection.

These include raising the gas tax and spending the money raised on "mass transit, bike trails, and sidewalks" instead of "new roads and highways;" a mandate "that all insurers, including Medicare, adjust their premiums on an actuarially fair basis to reward those who can establish regular gym or exercise class attendance ;" the use of "abandoned railroad right-of-ways to create an interstate bicycle highway system" and so on.

The book’s first 172 pages made me think of the first Psalm's last line, "the way of the wicked shall perish;" but the "What To Do About It" in those last 24 pages, of the next Psalm's verse, "He that dwelleth in Heaven shall laugh."

http://www.godspy.com/reviews/Downsizing-Civilization-The-Empty-Cradle-Phillip-Longman.cfm