War in Iraq,
Erosion of our Freedom,
Economy,
Yep Abortion should be the number one issue... haha
Abortion is a non-issue.
Sort of like gay marriage. It's a waste of time to debate it.
Yes, it all comes down to the economy. Conservative, "fundie nut cases" may have something here. The economy may not be the reason why they oppose legal abortion and gay marriage, but the economy might be a good reason why liberals and secular people should start taking abortion and gay marriage more seriously, especially since they are such good friends of welfare states and socialism. Why? Because of population decline. Developed countries are not having enough babies anymore, and they are legally killing unborn babies. And if people like Peter Singer, professor of Ethics at Princeton University continue to influence the future leaders, children already born will be killed too.
One result: Fewer children"Among the most striking consequences of the decline of religion has been fewer children. The birth rate throughout much of Western Europe has fallen so drastically that the population in many countries is shrinking, indicating that women throughout Europe now routinely use artificial birth control, in defiance of the Roman Catholic Church's teachings.
"The biggest single consequence of the declining role of the church is the huge decline in fertility rates," Inglehart says. With fewer people entering the workforce, countries like Italy, Germany and France won't be able to maintain the generous welfare programs that have given most workers a lifetime of economic security.
The waning influence of religion also has brought a change in attitudes and laws on issues such as divorce, abortion, gay marriage and stem cell research."...
..."Europeans debate whether these changes are positive or negative for society."
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2005-08-10-europe-religion-cover_x.htm"Most people think overpopulation is one of the worst dangers facing the globe. In fact, the opposite is true. As countries get richer, their populations age and their birthrates plummet. And this is not just a problem of rich countries: the developing world is also getting older fast. Falling birthrates might seem beneficial, but the economic and social price is too steep to pay. The right policies could help turn the tide, but only if enacted before it's too late."
"In his 1968 bestseller "The Population Bomb," Paul Ehrlich warned, "The battle to feed all of humanity is over. In the 1970s the world will undergo famines -- hundreds of millions of people are going to starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now." Fortunately,
Ehrlich's prediction proved wrong. But having averted the danger of overpopulation, the world now faces the opposite problem: an aging and declining population. We are, in one sense, lucky to have this problem and not its opposite. But that doesn't make the problem any less serious, or the solutions any less necessary."
http://www.foreignaffairs.org/20040501faessay83307-p60/phillip-longman/the-global-baby-bust.html "
Russia is one of the few countries in the world where life expectancy has decreased in comparison to 1960s levels.
Not enough babies being born, too many unnecessary deaths (especially among younger men), 'social' illnesses killing off millions of people each year.
The authors propose various measures aimed at changing policies and attitudes but seemingly do not hold out much hope that a significant difference can be made.
Above all there seem to be simply too few young men and women around in Russia now to have children on the scale needed to change birth rates for the better, even if those young people were minded to have families and children on a notably higher scale than now.
Thus Russia appears to be on track to have something like 'only' 100 million people in forty years' time.
Not that Europe has anything to be smug about:
Unfortunately, the assumption of family duties by the state allows people to free ride on the fertility of others—which they seem to be trying to do in massive numbers. As we've mentioned before,
a society where everyone tries to free ride on everyone else is headed for disaster. Europe's safety nets, or at least the pension systems, may contain the seeds of their own destruction.Fascinating to see how Cause and Effect relentlessly work their way down the decades."
http://charlescrawford.biz/category-cMonday, January 07, 2008
Not enough babies? Robots are the answer TOKYO -- With a surfeit of the old and a shortage of the young, Japan is on course for a population collapse unlike any in human history.
What ails this prosperous nation could be treated with babies and immigrants. Yet many young women here do not want children, and the Japanese will not tolerate a lot of immigrants. So government and industry are marching into the depopulated future with the help of robots -- some with wheels, some with legs, some that you can wear like an overcoat with muscles.
A small army of these machines, which has attracted huge and appreciative crowds, is on display this winter at the Great Robot Exhibition in Tokyo's National Museum of Nature and Science.
http://taxingtennessee.blogspot.com/2008/01/not-enough-babies-robots-are-answer.html
