Optimism & Love

Polls are transitory and ephemeral. Elections, even with their long-lasting effects, are passing. Children, however, are forever.

What does it take to have children? In developed countries, it’s primarily choice. To make that choice requires optimism and love. In another column, I also called it heroism.

Whether out of the courage to do what one doesn't want to do, or the chutzpah to do what one wants to do, heroism to me is not defined as I once did as the intent but rather as the process and hopefully good, but willing to correct the poor, outcomes: a decent life that is respected and leaves more good behind. I believe that is also G-d's intent, and of individuals and religions that well serve G-d and themselves.

Robert Samuelson’s column today, “Behind the Birth Dearth,” points out that while Europe and Russia are depopulating, “American fertility is roughly at the replacement rate…Nor does the U.S. rate merely reflect, as some think, a higher rate among Hispanic Americans.”

Samuelson continues:

What explains the American exception? Eberstadt cites three differences with Europe and most other advanced countries: greater optimism, greater patriotism and stronger religious values. There's some supporting evidence. A survey by the National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago asked respondents in 33 countries to react to this statement: "I would rather be a citizen of [my country] than of any other." Among Americans, 75 percent "strongly" agreed; among Germans, French and Spanish, comparable responses were 21 percent, 34 percent and 21 percent, respectively.

Samuelson concludes:

By not having children, people are voting against the future -- their countries’ and perhaps their own.

Finlay Lewis looks at current and past polling data to question some experts why “Voters anxiety and strong economy joins war in keeping Bush’s poll ratings low.” Finlay’s concluding expert offers an interesting insight:

The political significance of polls that assess a president's handling of the economy may be subject to debate given the fact that Vice President Al Gore lost the 2000 election despite Clinton's 69 percent approval rating for his second-term economic management.
Barry Bosworth, an economist at the Brookings Institution, observed: “Presidents have very little to do with the performance of the economy. We are a country where, for better or worse, the government doesn't have that big an impact. . . . To some extent, people may be finally coming to believe that.”

Optimism is best seen in birth rates than in polls, negatively impacted by an endless stridency of self-destructive negativity and pessimism from too many leading Democrats and their MSM chorus. In general, populations of “red” states grow; populations of “blue” states shrink. Populations of the religious grow; populations of the agnostic or atheist shrink.

Most Americans, a far higher percentage than elsewhere, are optimistic, not in the sense of rose-colored glasses, but in the sense of personal efficacy at looking for and finding the best in ourselves and loving others enough to sacrifice to share it.