Mark Steyn: The strange death of the liberal West

The Telegraph (U.K.) ^ | 03/22/05 | Mark Steyn

[Pokey78]

I am, as Tony Blair might say, deeply passionately personally deeply personally opposed to abortion. But, unlike him, I think it ought to be an election issue.

Not because of my personal beliefs: I happen to believe a lot of what we call "late-term abortion" is in reality early-term infanticide, but, if you don't accept that that's a human life that's being destroyed, my deeply personal passionate beliefs aren't likely to sway you one way or another. That's where so-called progressive politicians such as Blair and John Kerry have it all backwards: the point about abortion is not that it's a "matter of conscience" for individuals to "wrestle with", but that it's a crucial part of the central political challenge of our time.

Almost every issue facing the EU - from immigration rates to crippling state pension liabilities - has at its heart the same glaringly plain root cause: a huge lack of babies. I could understand a disinclination by sunny politicians to peddle doom and gloom were it not for the fact that, in all other areas of public policy, our rulers embrace doomsday scenarios at the drop of a hat. Most 20-year projections - on global warming, fuel resources, etc - are almost laughably speculative. They fail to take into account the most important factor of all - human inventiveness: "We can't feed the world!" they shriek. But we develop more efficient farming methods with nary a thought. "The oil will run out by the year 2000!" But we develop new extraction methods and find we've got enough oil for as long as we'll need it.

But human inventiveness depends on humans - and that's the one thing we really are running out of. When it comes to forecasting the future, the birth rate is the nearest thing to hard numbers. If only a million babies are born in 2005, it's hard to have two million adults enter the workforce in 2025 (or 2033, or 2041, or whenever they get around to finishing their Anger Management, Systemic Racism and Gay Studies degrees). If that's not a political issue, what is? To cite only the most obviously affected corner of the realm, what's the long-term future of the Scottish National Party if there are no Scottish nationals?

When I've mentioned the birth dearth on previous occasions, pro-abortion correspondents have insisted it's due to other factors - the generally declining fertility rates that affect all materially prosperous societies, or the high taxes that make large families prohibitively expensive in materially prosperous societies. But this is a bit like arguing over which came first, the chicken or the egg - or, in this case, which came first, the lack of eggs or the scraggy old chicken-necked women desperate for one designer baby at the age of 48. How much of Europe's fertility woes derive from abortion is debatable. But what should be obvious is that the way the abortion issue is framed - as a Blairite issue of personal choice - is itself symptomatic of the broader crisis of the dying West.

Since 1945, a multiplicity of government interventions - state pensions, subsidised higher education, higher taxes to pay for everything - has so ruptured traditional patterns of inter-generational solidarity that in Europe a child is now an optional lifestyle accessory. By 2050, Estonia's population will have fallen by 52 per cent, Bulgaria's by 36 per cent, Italy's by 22 per cent. The hyper-rationalism of post-Christian Europe turns out to be wholly irrational: what's the point of creating a secular utopia if it's only for one generation?

Shortly after 9/11, I wrote in these pages about one of the most curious aspects of the new war - the assurance given to Islamist "martyrs" that 72 virgins were standing by to pleasure them for eternity. The notion that the after-life is a well-appointed brothel is a perplexing one to the Judaeo-Christian world, and I suggested that Americans would be sceptical if heaven were framed purely in terms of boundless earthly pleasures.

But, on reflection, if the Islamists are banal in portraying the next world purely in terms of sensual self-gratification, we're just as reductive in measuring this one the same way. America this Holy Week is following the frenzied efforts to halt the court-enforced starvation of a brain-damaged woman for no reason other than that her continued existence is an inconvenience to her husband. In Britain, two doctors escape prosecution for aborting an otherwise healthy baby with a treatable cleft palate because the authorities are satisfied they acted "in good faith". You can read similar stories in almost any corner of the developed world, except perhaps the Netherlands, where discretionary euthanasia is so advanced it's news if the kid makes it out of the maternity ward. As the New York Times reported the other day: "Babies born into what is certain to be a brief life of grievous suffering should have their lives ended by physicians under strict guidelines, according to two doctors in the Netherlands.

"The doctors, Eduard Verhagen and Pieter J. J. Sauer of the University Medical Center in Groningen, in an essay in today's New England Journal of Medicine, said they had developed guidelines, known as the Groningen protocol."

Ah, the protocols of the elders of science. Odd the way scientists have such little regard for scientific progress. It's highly likely that many birth defects - not just the bilateral cleft lips - will be treatable and correctible in the next decade or two. But once you start weighing the relative values of individual lives, there's no end to it. Much of that derives from the way abortion has redefined life - as a "choice", an option.

In practice, a culture that thinks Terri Schiavo's life in Florida or the cleft-lipped baby's in Herefordshire has no value winds up ascribing no value to life in general. Hence, the shrivelled fertility rates in Europe and in blue-state America: John Kerry won the 16 states with the lowest birth rates; George W Bush took 25 of the 26 states with the highest.

The 19th-century Shaker communities were forbidden from breeding and could increase their number only by conversion. The Euro-Canadian-Democratic Party welfare secularists seem to have chosen the same predicament voluntarily, and are likely to meet the same fate. The martyrdom culture of radical Islam is a literal dead end. But so is the slyer death culture of post-Christian radical narcissism. This is the political issue that will determine all the others: it's the demography, stupid.

[Brian Allen]

<< Ah, the protocols of the elders of science. >>

What a cheeky prick this feller is.

That just might be his cheekiest ever!

Gotta love'im!

Thanks for the ping, Pokes.

Blessings -- B A

[Lorianne]

The martyrdom culture of radical Islam is a literal dead end. But so is the slyer death culture of post-Christian radical narcissism.

Blunt, but true. Great article.

[Brian Allen]

<< ... I'd never heard of partial birth abortions which I think is disgusting ... >>

"Disgusting?"

"Disgusting?"

Wow.

I'da lent toward "monstrous," meself.

Or "barbaric."

[clearsight]

Thanks........so that's why they couldn't find it at the movie rental.......helps to spell it right........ok........

[IncPen]

ping ...

[lawgirl]

En garde!! ;-) I totally agree- Mark Steyn is a good conservative woman's dreamboat!

[Modernman]

6) Eliminate tax exemptions for non-Judeo-Christian faiths.

What an idiotic idea.

7) Require competency in English, Christianity, and Citizenship as a condition of citizenship for immigrants. .

English and Citizenship proficiency are fine, but the Christianity requirement is bigotry of the highest order and incompatible with the notions of religious freedom this country was founded on.

8) Require a minimum two-years of public service from EVERYONE in some form or another as a condition of suffrage. People who do not serve their country should not be allowed to vote. You want to vote? Serve.

Slavery to the government in return for exercising the franchise? I think not.

9) Amend the Constitution so that all of the above are legal and so that Constitutional rights are only allowed to US Citizens.

So, the government could put permanent residents and tourists in death camps, if it wanted to?

[llama hunter]

INTERESTING

To really save Western (European) culture we'd have to do the following:

1) Ban abortion execpt in extreme circumstances such as ectopic pregnancy. A LITTLE LIMITED THERE, THERE ARE OTHER SITUATIONS WHERE THE MOTHER COULD DIE AS A RESULT OF HER PREGNANCY BEYOND AN ETOPIC PREGNANCY, I TAKE IT YOU WOULD ADVOCATE FOR THE MOTHER'S LIFE OVER THE FETUS, AT LEAST, IF THREATENED...

2) Prohibit all extensions of marital rights to anyone outside of marriage. INTERESTING CONCEPT

3) Allow employers to discriminate against single mothers, divorcees, atheists, and homosexuals & lesbians. This will have the effect of immediately reducing the numbers of those groups. SOUNDS A LITTLE TALIBANISH MY FRIEND, YOU LOSE ME ON THIS ONE.... ESP SINCE MANY DIVORCEES ARE WOMEN LEFT BEHIND BY MEN WHO THINK WITH THEIR DICKS, SO IF YOU WANT TO INCLUDE MALE DIVORCEES IN THAT LIST TOO AND SINGLE FATHERS?

4) End welfare in every possible form. Social safety nets will be found in the churches once again and in nuclear families once again. Government spending should also be reduced to eliminate the 'other' welfare: Public Employment. SORRY MY FATHER THE MOST CONSERVATIVE DUDE YOU WILL MEET THINKS SOCIAL WELFARE IS FINE BECAUSE AS HE PUTS IT, THE POOR PEOPLE PUT THAT MONEY BACK INTO THE ECONOMY WHICH BENEFITS US ALL - AND HE IS RIGHT WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT, AND HE SAYS HE'D RATHER PAY FOR BUMS TO STAY AT HOME THAN WASTE MONEY ON THESE FEEL GOOD MAKE WORK PROJECTS OF THE GOVERNMENT (THEY LOVE THOSE IN CANADA) AND HE'S RIGHT, IT'S CHEAPER....JUST YOU PAY THEM ENOUGH TO SUBSIST, SO THE MORE AMBITIOUS TYPES MIGHT TRY TO GET OFF WELFARE, TOO LITTLE AND THE CRIME RATE GOES UP, IT WORKED IN ONTARIO EH?

5) Prohibit immigration by Muslims, atheists, Communists, and any other undesirables. COMMUNISTS AND TERRORISTS AND CRIMINALS FOR SURE.....

6) Eliminate tax exemptions for non-Judeo-Christian faiths.
THEN ELIMINATE TAX EXEMPTIONS FOR ALL FAITHS, REMEMBER PTL? JIMMY SWAGGART?

7) Require competency in English, Christianity, and Citizenship as a condition of citizenship for immigrants. Further, Citizenship boards should have the right to reject applications for citizenship arbitrarily. COMPETENCY IN ENGLISH AND KNOWLEDGE OF THE CULTURE, CERTAINLY, THEY EVEN DID THAT IN SWEDEN AND THE MUSLIMS COMPLAINED AND SAID THEY WOULD LEAVE SWEDEN, AND I SAID TO MYSELF AND SWEDEN IS GOING, YES, THAT WAS THE POINT, LOL

8) Require a minimum two-years of public service from EVERYONE in some form or another as a condition of suffrage. People who do not serve their country should not be allowed to vote. You want to vote? Serve. I THINK IT IS GREAT IDEA. I HAD TO LAUGH, IN ONTARIO THEY NOW REQUIRE EACH STUDENT TO PUT IN 40 HOURS, YES JUST 40 HOURS OF VOLUNTEER COMMUNITY SERVICE AND WE HAVE PARENTS GRIPING TO THE EDITOR OF OUR LOCAL NEWSPAPER, HELL I PUT IN TONS MORE HOURS OF VOLUNTEER SERVICE IN HIGH SCHOOL AND IT WASN'T A REQUIREMENT....

9) Amend the Constitution so that all of the above are legal and so that Constitutional rights are only allowed to US Citizens.

Honestly, I'm afraid we'll be living in a Sharia State before anyone has the balls to do any of this.

[Allan]

Bump

[llama hunter]

Hey he's mine,

let's mudwrestle for him, LOL

[JusPasenThru]

I've been almost quided to death today.

You must be feeling rather peckish.

[llama hunter]

yes I do comprehend that,

I do wonder how adoption rates have been affected

are there in fact more couples waiting to adopt than there are babies, which is why many couples go outside the country and the more open adoption laws mean you get lots of mothers changing their minds at the last moment etc...

assuming of course there aren't a long list of older perhaps less desirable children, now wards of the state, also awaiting a home, perhaps the Muslims have something when they insist that Muslim children must not be adopted outside the Muslim culture, the extended family is supposed to take orphans in, but the fact of the matter is many Muslim kids sit abandoned in those orphanages as well

sometime you think, hmmm, maybe abortion isn't such a bad idea or maybe sterilization, one of my sister's friend is a foster mother, three kids from the same mother have arrived in her custody, the mother is an alcoholic and crack addict and after she lost her first child, they automatically take the baby away from her now, all the kids have fetal alcohol syndrome, I think she actually adopted one of the kids, we also heard that mother was pregnant again.....oi vay!

the great woman's got foster kids and adopted kids and her own kids, it's a bit confusing, but she is a rare kind of person that can deal with all those kids, she had one little girl in foster care who had clearly been sexually abused, because she was sexually suggestive at age 5.....you shake your head at what people have done to their children

[octavianaugustus]

"Life is nasty, brutish, and short."

Thomas Hobbes

[CzarNicky]

children: avoiding the burdens of raising children is usually an indication of immaturity, frivolity, and an unwillingness to become a real adult. I would view my type through a very suspicious lens; not always, but most people who somehow ducked the natural passage of providing for the next generation are unreliable, narcissistic, and have distorted values.

Or they might just see that they aren't the type to raise children.

[GOP_1900AD]

RE: 8) Require a minimum two-years of public service from EVERYONE in some form or another as a condition of suffrage. People who do not serve their country should not be allowed to vote. You want to vote? Serve.

Jefferson espoused this within the ward republic concept. It was never really properly debated. Now is the time to do so.

[PeterFinn]

Imagine the ACLU suing Thomas Jefferson.

[Clemenza]

Third World immigrants...all tend to vote Democratic.

Cross out "Third World" and you are right. The Eastern Europeans who I meet in this country, some of whom are good, some of whom are just trash, tend to bring their socialist mindset and moral/cultural superiority complex with them.

[nothingnew]

You must be feeling rather peckish.(?)

OK. I'm not long to get a hard with.

FMCDH(BITS)

[finnigan2]

"Liberals are abstractly compassionate and personally hedonistic. That means they will support higher taxes for "the children", as long as said children are not personally known to them.
Children who might interrupt a career or a dinner are the ultimate bondage for a self-absorbed Manhattan professional woman, because she would have to put another human being before herself. She will gladly pay through the nose to the federal government for the abstract children to assuage her conscience about the concrete one she had killed last week."

- Not bad, not bad at all. As a matter of fact, the juxtaposition of "career" and "dinner" in the same sentence to underscore your contempt is worthy of Steyn himself. Congratulations.