Liberalism (Bites)

Liberal and Conservative Birth Rates, Part II

By J. Wesley ⋅ April 14, 2008 ⋅ Email This Post Email This Post ⋅ Print This Post Print This Post ⋅ Post a comment

This is Part II of an earlier post.  Here’s some more data on the birth rates of conservatives versus liberals and Evangelicals versus non-religious people:

“Undoubtedly, the next “right” liberals will discover is canine suffrage. Can you imagine how many votes they’ll be able to dig up in Chicago pet cemetaries?”

The new book Reagan’s Children, authored by Hans Zeiger and published by Broadman & Holman, has a good section on the religion, politics and birth rates in America.  According to the book, births in L.A. county fell 30%  during the 1990s, 13% in MA, and 37% in D.C.  Fourteen states saw big jumps in fertility — all but one was a Red state. 

Phillip Longman’s essay on “The Liberal Baby Bust” also has some valuable data.  For instance, single-child families, the norm among liberals, tend toward extinction.  17.2% of Baby Boomer families had only one child.  They produced only 9.2% of total births.  On the other hand, the 10% of Boomer families with four or more children produced a quarter of the children born to Boomers.  It would seem that the children of large families in turn desire large families, continuing the process — only 29% of Baby Boomers say three or more children is the ideal family size, while a full 42% of young people want three or more. 

According to Longman, the liberal / conservative difference in fertility holds true in Europe as well:

    “Similarly, in Europe today, the people least likely to have children are those most likely to hold progressive views of the world. . . Do you find soft drugs, homosexuality and euthanasia acceptable? Do you seldom, if ever, attend church? Europeans who answer affirmatively to such questions are far more likely to live alone or be in childless, cohabiting unions than are those who answer negatively.”

Longman also noted the same Conservatives have babies/ Liberals buy small dogs dynamic that I did.  According to him: “In Seattle, there are nearly 45% more dogs than children. In Salt Lake City, there are nearly 19% more kids than dogs.”

Undoubtedly, the next “right” liberals will discover is canine suffrage. Can you imagine how many votes they’ll be able to dig up in Chicago pet cemetaries?

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Discussion

4 comments for “Liberal and Conservative Birth Rates, Part II”

  1. So stack this with Mark Steyn’s analysis, and we will soon have a world in which more conservative Americans are fending off all those Muslim nations in Europe. Wow. It’s like Charles Martel never happened, but Reagan did. :-)

    Posted by pgepps | April 14, 2008, 4:51 am

  2. pgepps, that was beautiful.

    Posted by pentamom | April 14, 2008, 3:35 pm

  3. I’m probably going off track with this but, here goes anyway. 48,589,993 total abortions since the 1973 Roe v Wade decision. Nearly 49,000,000 children created in God’s image, sacrificed on the alter of Choice. Thousands and hundred thousands of them no doubt firstborn children.
    I’m reminded of the Scripture, Jeremiah 19: 1-5. God said in verse 5, “and [they]have built the high places of Baal to burn their sons in the fire as burnt offerings to Baal, a thing which I never commanded or spoke of, nor did it ever enter My mind;”

    Looking at abortion from purely a medical, scientific, and economic standpoint, we’ve lost millions of people who would have been productive citizens contributing to medicine, research, and yes, social security.

    The declining birth rates across Europe have created a crisis situation in which countries are below replacement level and governments are pleading for people to have children.

    All because the world, including even, many evangelicals, have bought into the lie that children are a possession,(and sometimes nuisance) like cars and furniture, instead of a gift from God to be loved and nurtured from birth to glorify and magnify God.
    Psalm 78.

    Posted by Gail Brightbill | April 14, 2008, 6:22 pm

  4. PG-

    “So stack this with Mark Steyn’s analysis, and we will soon have a world in which more conservative Americans are fending off all those Muslim nations in Europe. Wow. It’s like Charles Martel never happened, but Reagan did.”

    Kinda… The variable missing from my post is, of course, the Latino birth rate. We aren’t in for a Muslim future, but American culture is definitely in for some changes. . .

    Gail Brightbill-

    I’m so glad you’re stopping by. :)

    “All because the world, including even, many evangelicals, have bought into the lie that children are a possession,(and sometimes nuisance) like cars and furniture, instead of a gift from God to be loved and nurtured from birth to glorify and magnify God.
    Psalm 78.”

    This is actually something I’ve been focusing on lately. And Alexandra did a paper on it for school as well. If someone truly has a secular viewpoint, and this world is all their is, then the eat-drink-and-have-no-responsibilities mindset makes a certain kind of sense. I think it’s precisely the eternal perspective that Christianity brings which explains why our birth rates remain relatively high.

    Posted by J. Wesley | April 16, 2008, 2:09 am

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