I’d say “Wow” too.
That’s not a bad thing. In fact I find it impressive. I wish my wife and I had started sooner so we could have had a larger family (two children). But what is, is.
Our daughter and her husband gifted us with out first grandchild (she’s 26 and we are early 50’s), so we are planning all the ways we can enjoy this new role. Life is good.
High Volume. Articles on Israel can also be found by clicking on the Topic or Keyword Israel. or WOT [War on Terror]
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as soon as the family reaches a certain level of education or $$, children drop to 1 or 2. More conservative societies might manage to go a bit longer, but that’s about it.
Baby factories will be next.
The Western cult of narcissism is...
..killing this nation.
..destroying Western Civilization.
..undermining freedom.
..anesthetizing everybody else into a lowest common denominator wins mentality.
“Doing my part to raise the population level (see my FR page!) in the USA” ping!! :-)
O.J. Simpson was never held accountable for murdering two people. Michael Jackson has never been held accountable for molesting children. John McCain - we have yet to see what happens there.
I was with this until the crack about only children. You can just as easily have many siblings and be a self centered s.o.b.
Americas babies are coming from non-citizens.
Your gonna have to buy a LOT of carbon credits to cover those 9 C02 emitters Shmuley, get out your checkbook and send a check to:
Owl Gore
Greenhouse Gasbag
123 Idiot Street
Azzhat, Tennessee.
And what is the percentage — in comparison — for Islamic families?
My brother-in-law, for example, six kids, one by nature, five by adoption. All of the adopted kids are all mixed race, with Korean being the common ground for all five.
Isn’t it a bit narcissistic in a different sense to find it ominous when one’s own demographic group is decreasing relative to others? Let’s promote Western values, not Westerners.
Pope Benedict summed it up best. “Europe is infected by a strange lack of desire for the future. Children, our future, are perceived as a threat to the present.”
That is a powerful quote.
As an aside, I like the author’s reference to the 2% warrior class. I can only dream of a day when the members of that class are actually recognized as such. I hear so much from politicians about “the debt owed these soldiers”, yet payment of that debt so often takes the form of words or meaningless gestures.
How about a revitalized, efficient VA system, at least a lifetime deduction on fed income tax for those who served in a combat zone (though obviously eliminated would be better), reduced (or eliminated) fees for things such as license plates (we already have special plates for vets in most states, how about an adjusted rate to go with them). As long as I’m dreaming, I wouldn’t mind seeing such “super-citizens” accorded some form of additional social status privilege in society.
/rant
There are too many great points in this piece to single any one out. What this writer has described is a primary symptom of the slow but steady death of Western culture.
That is not criticism. It is a lot of kids. Even back in the good ol' days that was a lot of kids. Especially considering that then to have eight living children you would probably have gone through 20 pregnancies.
It is quite an accomplishment. So "wow" indeed.
Congratulations to the Rabbi and his Mrs. on their 9th. Many good points in the article.
Well, home schooling Protestants, traditional Catholics, and Latter-Day Saints are still having large families. The future belongs to those who are willing to believe in it, and pay for — with their own money. People of conviction, and allegiance to transcendent value, have children. When German Christians gather for worship in another few decades, they may well be singing Turkish hymns.
If I had it to do over again, I would have at least five children. When we had ours there was a big push to limit the size of families to save the planet. Being young and stupid, I tried to do the right thing.
Then they flooded my nation with families with five to ten children, giving them higher payments for each new child. Go figure.
I think the industrialized nations have been brainwashed into having fewer children. Now the governments are acting as if they can’t get along without importing as many people as possible that don’t speak the native language, or hold anything near similar values.
You really have to wonder how planned this was.
If governments want more kids, provide a larger tax incentive to get them. It will work. And heaven forbid, you might even wind up with a stable society.