POPULATION: THE GREAT TABOO

Individual Freedoms

Many people's first response our questions about population is, "Well, what do you suggest -- being like China and allowing everyone to have only one child?"

The short answer is “no.” There are many ways other than coercion to influence people to have fewer children. When people have education and options for other careers they tend to have fewer children. When people have means of support in their old age, they are not dependent on having large families. And of course people need access to birth control information and supplies.

Amazingly, there are many government programs that actually encourage people to have children. One group analyzed U.S. laws and found over 1,000 incentives to have children! Such programs may have made sense when our country, and the world, was sparsely populated. But considering today's stresses on resources and space, it would make sense to eliminate many of these.

And in fact, we give up personal freedoms as population density increases. We lose the freedom to drive where we want to go and park conveniently, to live near work, to live in a spacious house. Zoning restrictions are more complex in cities than in rural areas. We lose the freedom to walk alone on the beach or by a mountain stream.

Even our democracy itself suffers as we lose personal connection with the politicos who make our laws. What proportion of us are on first name basis with our U.S. Senators, Representatives, or even our State representatives? How different lawmaking might be if these guys met their constituents at BBQs and events instead of just meeting the lobbyists who have offices in Washington.