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Tuesday, January 18, 2011

How Western Civilization Will Fall---Or Will It?

Jimmy Carter and Barack Obama seem convinced that America will inevitably spiral into the abyss of declined civilizations. Every empire has its fall, so why postpone the inevitable? President Obama is so committed to American global decline that he was the first president to ever apologize to the world for defending and protecting it---as a campaign tactic! His 2008 pre-election “apology tour” in Europe set an unprecedented show of commitment by American leadership to American global decline.

Apart from his unique ability, as president, to be a self-fulfilling prophet, he might be more right than he knows.

The tragic dilemma that defines our times is the “birth dearth”. The developed nations of the world, borrowing from a European playbook, are now competing in the greatest competition the world has ever seen: they want to see who can go into extinction first. The method of choice in this competition involves vehemently contradicting the purpose of the second strongest physiological urge of the human race: reproduction.

European, North American, Australian and Japanese families have decided that having children is no longer worthwhile, despite millennia of evidence that the contrary is advantageous. This anti-children approach to civilization has resulted in the native population decline of several of our world’s leading nations, including France, Germany, Italy and Greece. (And by native decline, I mean decline of the “native peoples” of the country, ie everyone but the immigrants.) Some of the developed nations have not even been able to stave off population decline through immigration, resulting in a decline of the entire country’s population.

In order to maintain a stagnant population (neither growing nor shrinking), a country must have a replacement rate of 2.1. In other words, you need a Total Fertility Rate of 2.1 live births per woman to maintain a steady number of people in your society from generation to generation. Europe as a whole has a rate of 1.38; Japan is at 1.32; Russia trails at 1.14. Canada weighs in at 1.48. (Source: America Alone, Mark Steyn)

Where does America stand? Right on the edge: at 2.11.

In my opinion, white Americans might as well be grouped with the Canadians. It is a widely known fact that Hispanic peoples in America have the biggest families, as do other non-white ethnic groups. Most white Americans would rather have one or two designer-babies after finishing graduate school at the age of 32 than have four or five starting at the age of 19 or 20.

Motherhood has become the career of last resort. According to many modern thinkers, anyone with brains, talent or initiative isn’t going to worry about having a family when they can be pursuing a career. “Oh, I’m just a mom.” “If you get married now, you’ll be barefoot and pregnant for the rest of your life.” “I’m waiting until I get my career off the ground to have kids.” On the individual level, these passing comments may sound fine, but when everyone adopts this kind of attitude, you get a baby-less society.

So maybe we’re just shifting to become an older society? Not quite. Let’s speak in mathematical terms: culture of not wanting to reproduce plus year-after-year of declining population equals national extinction. The “youngsters” of today don’t want to have children, either. “Generation Y” (the generation born between 1980 and 2000) is marrying less, marrying later, divorcing more and not having kids.

This trend correlates with the pattern of behavior in a secularizing nation. An interviewee in a website I recently discovered put it best, “As people adopt family and sex codes in tension with religion they tend to leave it; and as people leave religions, they often lose the discipline and motivation to direct and channel sexual behavior in ways that benefit the next generation. They marry less, have more sex outside of marriage, cohabit more, divorce more, and have fewer children -- and more of them out of wedlock.”

They continue, “Every developed country is experiencing a family crisis: first is ‘family fragmentation’ difficulties in getting parents to get married, stay married and raise their children together. Second is a collapse in birthrates to levels insufficient to sustain the population. In the US, 37% of children are now born outside of marriage and close to half of all marriages end in divorce.” In New York City, abortions fluctuate between 40-60% of total births, coming to 40% in 2010.

The myriad results of a society adopting such lifestyles and habits are unquestionably destructive. In fact, this childless trend is bankrupting the European, Anglo and Japanese welfare states. Take the following example: Grandpa Ed only fathers three children who in turn only produce one child. Grandpa retires at age 65 and lives 20 more years without working. His two grandchildren go to college for 15 years, then they go into the workforce at the age of 30 for 25 years. The grandkids go to college forever, and Grandpa stays retired forever. Who’s paying for retirement? Who’s paying for college?

Living off of social security when you get old is like living off of everyone else’s grandkids. As of a few months ago, social security officially went in the red in the United States. What happens when nobody has grandkids anymore? Even the most backwards tribal peoples know that you have children so they can take care of you when you’re old. It’s a retirement plan that requires zero financial savvy, and it guarantees caretakers that actually care about the person they are housing.

When the number of abortions equal the number of live births, and the only people who don’t have apathy about marriage are gay, you know your society is in trouble.

The biggest and most obvious repercussion of a declining population involves the nations that aren’t declining. The only nations that are growing in today’s world are Islamic! If demographic trends continue, about a third of the world will be Muslim by 2040. Almost all of the Muslim nations today are poor, politically unstable, dangerous and oppressive. To fully digest the dangerousness of this proposition,  consider the nature of the five largest Muslim countries: Indonesia, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Egypt. Iran ranks number seven on the list, and Afghanistan ranks number 10. Could you imagine a world dominated by these countries?

The only Muslim-majority country (there’s 47 in total) that has a semblance of political freedom, economic prosperity (not from oil) or cultural contribution is Turkey. That’s 1-in-47, and Turkey still has a long way to go.

In conclusion I return to the question I posed in the title of the article. Will Western Civilization fall? That question is up to the mothers and fathers of this great nation.

Friday, January 7, 2011

Conservative Politics

Liberals have it wrong on almost every issue. Conservative ideology is the only one with viable options.

Don’t get me wrong: embracing conservative political philosophy does not entail toting rifles, moving to the country, regularly eating at McDonald’s and becoming an Evangelical Baptist, as many Harvard Professors and New York Times writers would have you believe. It doesn’t mean that you join the Republican Party, either. It means something entirely different.

I’ll be the first to admit that the Republicans in the United States have certainly made their fair share of blunders in the last decade, including their enlarging of the federal government and debt-financed spending sprees. These gaffes, however, can be attributed to diverting from conservative principles, not from adhering to them.

Lest I digress into meaningless generalizations, one thing must be made clear: all ideas from “the Right” were not created equal. Some of the policies, issues and tendencies on the conservative side can be hurtful and detrimental to societal progress. There is great debate within the ideologues and leadership of conservative politics about differences of policy and practice.

The sad thing is that the Left isn’t contributing much useful discussion to the political debates. Consider the following issues:

1. The Economy: Creating Wealth and Eliminating Poverty
2. Social Issues: Abortion, Gay Marriage, and Crime
3. Foreign Policy: Keeping America Safe and International Trade
4. Education
5. Healthcare
6. Civil Liberties and Rights

Over the next few blog posts, we’ll discuss why the policies of conservative politics are the only policies for a prosperous and free society.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

What To Expect For 2011

If you don’t believe in horoscopes, then I suggest looking at history to predict the future.

For starters, let’s remember Bill Clinton’s notorious campaign slogan, “It’s the economy, stupid.” The alignment (or misalignment, nowadays) of the economy is the number one thing on people’s minds. Most folks ask themselves, “What are my job prospects? Are my basic bills paid? Can I take care of my children?”

One thing is for sure: unemployment is still hovering around 10%, with no clear sign of budging. Federal government hiring and stimulus programs clearly haven’t improved the employment outlook.

Housing prices are still overvalued, compared to long-term trends, so the real estate market will most likely drop 10-20% in 2011. Despite government-backed FHA loans only requiring buyers to provide a 3% down payment, housing sales still remain stagnant.

And more banks went out of business in 2010 than in 2009. Despite the Federal’s massive “quantitative easing” (ie money printing) in the past two and a half years, banks aren’t doing much lending these days. Generally, business owners remain skeptical about the future, and most aren’t pursuing aggressive growth strategies---which require loans---right now.

Interest rates are essentially zero, but lending is still slow and banks are still failing. It’s like turning up the heat, but the chicken still won’t cook.



We have to mention the elephant in the room before we go any further: government debt (from overspending) and financial policy. All of these crazy banking policies and practices originate from the Federal Reserve and the laws of the Federal Government.

Again, let us take a look at history. Has the United States Federal Government ever downsized during wartime? Has the United States Federal Government ever downsized, period? (In the last 80 years?)

The problem with most governments (at all levels, really) is that they’re like teeny-bopper brats with unlimited credit cards. The spending spree never stops while Daddy still pays the bills. When Daddy exhausts himself with bills he can‘t pay---or in more recent cases, files bankruptcy---then the spending spree is over.

Greece, California, Ireland and Iceland all defaulted on their debts because their respective legislatures couldn’t summon the strength to reign in spending. They made just too many hand-out happy promises to constituents to clean house before the diseases set in from all the dirt.

So my prediction? Congress votes on whether or not to raise the debt ceiling soon. If the habit of zero political discipline continues, raising the debt ceiling is more of an inevitability than a prediction.

Many adjustable rate mortgages are set to adjust up this year: far more than did in 2007. The loan defaults that set off the Lehman Brothers’ collapse was the first bump that set off the downward spiral. Far more loans are poised to adjust this year than in 2007. The results in 2011 can only be disastrous for the economy.

Stick around for more posts to learn about the silver lining.

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Who Has The Last Laugh About The Iraq War

 (Source: http://www.newsbusters.org/blogs/noel-sheppard/2011/01/01/msnbc-bushs-book-popular-because-he-was-so-hated )
2011 UPDATE: GEORGE W BUSH WAS RIGHT---


Former President George W. Bush is probably feeling pretty good right now. His new book containing his memoirs, Decision Points, has already sold 2 million copies in two months, almost matching the total sales of Bill Clinton's My Life, which has been around for about 6 years.


Laughably, the ever-liberal folks at MSNBC attributed Bush's incredible book sales to the fact that his approval rating was so low when he left office. Hmmmmmmmm...like that makes sense.

As another credit to former President Bush, the recent Wikileaks scandal proved that he was right: Saddam Hussein was in fact amassing materials to create nuclear bombs. Since as early as late 2003, "war-for-oil", defeatist, conspiracy-loving lefties have been touting the lack of evidence that Saddam Hussein was indeed attempting to create weapons of mass destruction. The recent Wikileaks documents now reveal that the allied military forces in Iraq found yellowcake. "Yellowcake" is the seed for making uranium and uranium is the most difficult-to-get and expensive-to-make-or-buy part of a nuclear bomb. 

According to Wikileaks, US forces continued to find chemical weapons labs and weapons of mass destruction over the next few years after 2003. In 2008, 550 metric tons of the elusive and supposedly nonexistent yellowcake were shipped out of Iraq, representing what the Associated Press called "the last major remnant of Saddam Hussein's nuclear program". 


Maybe they just wanted to create nuclear energy...in oil-rich Iraq? Yeah right.

Conservative radio talk show host and author Larry Elders wrote an excellent opinion piece now flying all around the web,"The WikiLeaks Vindication of George W. Bush". (You can access the page on Yahoo news through this link: http://news.yahoo.com/s/uc/20101209/cm_uc_crlelx/op_2416261)