If You Are Contracepting, You Are Part of A Very Big Problem

Madrid Blogspot ^ | January 27, 2009 | Patrick Madrid

[NYer]

Global aging, combined with plummeting birth rates, is a catastrophically dangerous menace that only a few people seem to be waking up to. You may not be familiar with terms like “global aging” and “demographic winter,” but you will be soon.

I've been giving public lectures on the problem of global aging for the past 7 years or so, and my audiences are always shocked and dumbfounded as I explain how the West's ever expanding population of old people (due, thank God, to the ever-improving capabilities of bio-medical science), while a good thing in itself, will soon become a prime target for the forced-euthanasia crowd as the decline in birth rates among women of child-bearing age throughout the West (as well as major non-Western countries like Japan and Russia) forces an ever-shrinking number of younger, working citizens to shoulder the economic burden of paying for the retirement benefits consumed by the ever-expanding population of retired, old folks.

This is a lethal combination that will, I am certain, begin playing itself out with horrifying new consequences within the next 10, 15, 20 years. Perhaps sooner. It's hard to predict. What we do know for sure, though, is that the West has been marinating for decades now in the bloody serum of legalized abortion, and it breathes the toxic atmosphere of ubiquitous pornography, consumerism, and the contraception mentality. What would have been unthinkable to Americans a mere 50 years ago (gay marriage, a billion-dollar abortion industry, the rise of euthanasia, etc.) has become commonplace and increasingly  unremarkable in this generation.

Where are we headed?

American economist Peter G. Peterson, in his book Gray Dawn: How the Coming Age Wave Will Transform America and the World (Random House, 1999), predicts: “Global aging will become the transcendent political and economic issue of the twenty-first century. I will argue [in this book] that — like it or not, and there's every reason to believe we won't like it — renegotiating the established social contract in reponse to global aging will soon dominate and daunt the public policy agendas or all the developed countries” (p. 5).

What Peterson means by “renegotiate the established social contract” is: You retired people, as well as all you who expect to retire in the next decade or two, don't expect that you'll be taken care of by the rest of us the way you now are or expect to be taken care of. Safety nets like Social Security and Medicare may have to be drastically downsized or even, if things get economically bad enough, eliminated. In other words, we may not be able to continue paying for the burdensome expenses old people impose on an ever-shrinking younger workforce (Thanks, contracepting couples! Thanks, abortion industry!). And what happens then? 

I've been saying for years now what is being reported yet again in this article. What is now known as the “right to die movement” is steadily morphing into what will soon become the “oblicagtion to die movement.” 

The politics of “young versus old” is rising, slowly but surely, and we will live to see its pernicious effects. Soon enough we will begin to see how the demographic winter results in an intergenerational struggle. The younger people, who have lived their entire lives learning from the media and our culture as a whole that other people are only useful or valuable insofar as they do one or more of a few things: give sexual pleasure, provide entertainment, make money, or produce some kind of product or service.

30+ years of legalized abortion has hardened millions of younger Americans into seeing unborn children as “parasites” who should be eliminated because they are inconvenient and unwanted.  50 years of the mainstreaming of pornography (thanks, Heff!) have educated a wide swath of Americans to look at others as objects for pleasure. And the aggressive cult of scientism has successfully swayed many people to look at unpleasant realities such as aging, pain, and lonliness as intolerable conditions that must be eliminated at all costs. 

So, barring some miracle (and while I do believe in miracles, I also believe in Divine Justice), I predict that the next step in the morbid evolution of the West's enmeshment in the culture of death will entail such horrors as forced euthansia and cloning human beings for body parts. This will begin to take shape as soon as enough people who have no belief in God and no regard for the value of human life begin to realize what “demographic winter” means for them financially.

With that in mind, please consider the chilling points made in this LifeSite article:

Celebrated columnist and pro-family leader Don Feder gave a jaw-dropping presentation on the coming 'Demographic Winter' at the Rose Dinner which closes the official March for Life festivities every year. Speaking to hundreds of attendees, Feder suggested that the demographic problem of worldwide declining birthrates "could result in the greatest crisis humanity will confront in this century" as "all over the world, children are disappearing."
 
"In the Western world, birthrates are falling and populations are aging," said Feder. "The consequences for your children and grandchildren could well be catastrophic."
 
Feder noted, "In 30 years, worldwide, birth rates have fallen by more than 50%. In 1979, the average woman on this planet had 6 children. Today, the average is 2.9 children, and falling."  He explained the situation noting, "demographers tell us that with a birthrate of 1.3, everything else being equal, a nation will lose half of its population every 45 years."
 
Beyond an inability to pay for pensions, it is likely that euthanasia will be one looked-to solution to the aging crisis, he said.

"Demographic Winter is the terminal stage in the suicide of the West - the culmination of a century of evil ideas and poisonous policies,'" he said.  Among them he listed:
 
"Abortion - As I mentioned a moment ago, worldwide, we're killing 42 million people a year. It's as if an invading army killed every man woman and child in Italy - then repeated the process every year.
 
"Contraception - For the first time in history, just under half the world's population of childbearing age uses some form of birth control. Some of us remember when births weren't controlled and pregnancies weren't planned. With all the wailing about man-made Global Warming, carbon footprints and the ozone layer, wouldn't it be ironic if what did us in wasn't the SUV but the IUD? . . . (read article)

 

[MahatmaGandu]

No worries, then. (-;

[cowtowney]

Not sure if you are agreeing with me or not

[cowtowney]

Yes I do care.

If they choose a new car over having babies it sickens me.

It sickens me more that kids get out of college with $100,000 in debt and then can not afford to have kids.

[Puddleglum]

The West is not having enough babies.

[steve-b]

The difference is that she does so knowingly

Which is to say, behaving in the manner that makes humans superior to animals. You can behave like an animal, if you prefer. Perhaps you could start by heading for your local grocer and start smashing bottles of diet cola for their immoral decoupling of taste and calories.

[steve-b]

Whenever these issues are discussed, I'm a bit dismayed by the apparent class envy simmering just below the surface.

Inventing arguments against the luxuries other people enjoy as the fruits of their superior achievement is a natural outgrowth of resentment. How easily some people take that first step onto the road that leads to Stalin'g gulags.

But we already have someone here who's on record as denying that post-Soviet Russia is "thriving" relative to its previous enslaved state.

[steve-b]

And immoral behavior, if not eventually curtailed, will lead the individual practicing it to a bad end

This is why I keep trying to turn you away from your immoral class-resentment rhetoric. Perhaps one day you will listen.

[steve-b]

This is a snotty comment... as if the so called 'underclass' has no right to reproduce.

In context, those referred to as the "underclass" are, by definition, those who knowingly that they will be relying upon the charity (or, worse, state-sponsored robbery) of others to support the children they choose to have. I for one make no bones about saying that they have no right to do so.

[steve-b]

If they choose a new car over having babies it sickens me.

And other people should give a flying flip about your opinion because...?

Hey -- I just realized that it sickens me that you spend your time blathering on the Internet instead of working in a soup kitchen. So, close out your account and hop to it!

[little jeremiah]

Yay. Contraception is the evil that most people are afraid to look at clearly.

Sexual gratification divorced from faithful marriage *and* procreation has been one of the main engines driving culture off into the abyss.

[cowtowney]

“those referred to as the “underclass” are, by definition, those who knowingly that they will be relying upon the charity (or, worse, state-sponsored robbery) of others to support the children they choose to have. “

Says who? You can make a definition up out of air. Me too. Underclass are the poor. Nothing said about whether they are a ward of the state.

“I for one make no bones about saying that they have no right to do so.”

And per your next comment (”And other people should give a flying flip about your opinion because...? “),

Why should I or anyone else care about your opinion, either?

See? It goes both ways.

[steve-b]

Why should I or anyone else care about your opinion, either?

I don't require anyone to care about my opinion, because I am merely reiterating what sensible people have already figured out for themselves.

[cowtowney]

“I don’t require anyone to care about my opinion, because I am merely reiterating what sensible people have already figured out for themselves.”

You see...we differ in our opinion. That’s all. Your opinion is no better than mine. Your claim that “sensible people” agree with you is funny.

That’s what this board is for to read news stories and express your opinion in a civil manner. Telling me to “So, close out your account and hop to it!” is not in the spirit of these discussions.

[steve-b]

That's what this board is for to read news stories and express your opinion in a civil manner.

Funny, judging from your example I thought the purpose of this board was to accuse other members of being "snotty"....

[Antoninus]

This is why I keep trying to turn you away from your immoral class-resentment rhetoric.

Yawn. I resent no one except those who attempt to misrepresent my views. Such people are filthy stinking liars.

[Antoninus]

You're assuming what you still have to prove- namely, that contraceptive use is immoral.

It is impossible to prove that anything is immoral to an atheist.

If you are a Christian or a Jew, however, God said: "Be fruitful and multiply." He didn't say, "Be barren, and die." Those words of advice come from somewhere else.

[Citizen Blade]

It is impossible to prove that anything is immoral to an atheist.

I consider plenty of things immoral. Granted, I'm an agnostic and not an atheist.

If you are a Christian or a Jew, however, God said: "Be fruitful and multiply." He didn't say, "Be barren, and die." Those words of advice come from somewhere else.

As a non-Christian and non-Jew, that line of argument is not really persuasive to me.

[Antoninus]

Which is to say, behaving in the manner that makes humans superior to animals.

So now embracing sterility and using sex merely for pleasure makes one superior to animals? Sorry, I disagree. It actually makes one stupider than the most benighted creature alive.

One who accepts such a doctrine and uses artificial contraception says, in effect, "Life is bad. Children are a nuisance. Too many children are a curse."

Fortunately, such wicked individuals do not long leave their stain upon the earth. The future belongs to the children of those who embrace life.

[Antoninus]

I consider plenty of things immoral. Granted, I'm an agnostic and not an atheist.

I'm sure you do. I once met a guy who tried to convince me that making porn movies was actually very moral. Needless to say, he wasn't a Christian or a Jew either.

[steve-b]

God said: "Be fruitful and multiply."