BRACE YOURSELF - this is a marathon post! A lot of interesting stuff being discussed here... (I appreciate your patience)
It would seem to me that we already have a voluntary one child policy. Nobody made me father more than one. I made the other three because I do so love banging cooch!
That's not exactly a policy of any kind. A policy would be something wherein people are encouraged or discouraged to do something. By the same logic, we already have a voluntary sixteen-child policy, too.
You have to keep in mind that the enviormental impact of an american is many times what most others peoples is.Not that they should be reproducing eitheir at high rates, but the enviroment would benefit most from the countries consuming a lot of resources curtailing growth.
Exactly, Americans consume comparatively massive quantities of everything (and I'm not just talking about eating).
maybe this should be exercised first in well lets say, countries with limited carring capacity were famine and drought are normal occurances and breeding is done at the drop of the hat. (where the aids epidemic is the worst also) mostly eastern africa. this isn't a bad idea but lets work on the worst offenders first. We dont want to breed ourselves out of our own civil liberties, we can still have children 1-2 not 4-5. one or two kids would be flat growth, not per mate (thinking of alot of single women i know) per person
While one can reasonably speak of the carrying capacities of different countries, when addressing environmental issues (say, species depletion or global warming) it is not helpful to limit policies within particular borders. What Americans do (and Chinese do, and Indians do, and Europeans do) has more of a global impact. People who own and drive multiple cars and eat lots of meat and use a lot of chemicals and have governments with great military resources tend to have a much bigger impact on the global environment - not just within their home countries - than do those who make biscuits where dirt is one of the ingredients (that's not a joke, btw), who live in cardboard boxes or thatched huts, who weight 105 lbs. rather than 210, who get 99.9% of their food from sources within 100 miles (or they just grow it or hunt it themselves), who can't comprehend a gas station credit card, and who bathe in the river once in a while. That's just true - that doesn't mean I'm saying the way poor Africans or Asians live SHOULD be some standard we aspire to, so don't distort me here... Large, populous, DEVELOPED nations or those DEVELOPING (see: Asia for starters) will have a much bigger impact on global realities if they double or halve their populations than if impoverished African or Asian countries double or halve their pops.
I agree with him. This is a good idea that will help save the world's resources. People don't want to give up their right to do anything, though. The human race is just gonna just ride the Personal Liberties Train right into extinction and possibly bring the whole planet with it.
EXCELLENT point, senob44. Look at China. Whether you want to label China communist or capitalist, the reality is they're growing like CRAZY, and a LOT of Chinese people are getting wealthier and aspiring to the American standard of living. Americans pride themselves on being very hard-working, but the rest of the world aspires to American living standards because they see people with garages filled with big cars, big houses stuffed with lots of stuff, and people eating lots of delicious meat. The Chinese are developing a taste for beef, too. Everyone should investigate the environmental impact of raising a pound of beef sometime, including the massive amounts of water and fossil fuels it takes compared to food crops. I don't have any beef with the Chinese (pun intended) but I worry much more about their numbers than say whatever the population trends of say, Lesotho, are.
And another part of America's Personal Liberties is, in my view, the attitude that if one can FINANCIALLY afford something they should be entitled to that something, whatever it is. But the problem is, is if we really think our Way of Life is a universal good, and should be adopted worldwide (but if we think only that we are entitled to it, but others aren't, how elitist is THAT??), then we are in serious trouble, and heading for barbarism if the rest of the world adopts it, or we don't modify it in some significant ways ourselves.
Personally, I think people need to adopt more. I can understand why they want their own biological child but in today's age, how much of "carrying on the line" is biological and how much is cultural??
Bravo! Those who want more than 2 kids should adopt a kid. Start with the black kids (esp. if you're a "color-blind" conservative!).
kids are the biggest economic incentive in this country right now.
The system can't force people to work, and there's no incentive to work.
It's a symptom of the bigger problems. Millions of 18-24 year olds are investing in their education, only to get absolutely no return on their investment.
The part about kids and incentives is absurd - just flat-out absurd.
The part about the education investment is on-target, though.
Ted Turner and his outfit (CNN) never miss an oppurtunity to ram home this idea that we need illegal immigration (any immigration) for our economy to function.
And it's not just Ted, it's these rich elitist types that play that shit. I think they are trying to wipe out the middle class by importing tens of millions of uneducated Mexicans to clean us out. Meanwhile, they are telling you and I to stop making kids.
What in the world are you talking about?? CNN's most prominent voice on immigration is easily Lou Dobbs and unless you've been asleep, you'll notice he ain't exactly an immigration booster....
Glenn Beck, another part of that "communist news network" :1orglaugh has comparable views, the last time I endured listening to him. (CNN just took on Bush's old press sec., Tony Snow - God, what a liberal media outlet!!!)
You ought to elaborate on who these "rich elitist types" are and how they are "importing" Mexicans (nice way to dehumanize The Others!) and "telling you" how many kids to have.
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