OPINION:
Democrats and their media clone army are furious over a comment then-Senate candidate J.D. Vance made in an interview three years ago about women who prefer pets to children.
The Republican vice presidential candidate has been called misogynistic, patriarchal and pronatalist in response to his observation that the United States is governed by childless elites who have “no direct stake” in the future.
If elected, Vice President Kamala Harris will be the first president in 153 years not to have biological children, though she does have two stepchildren.
Progressives insist that Whites can’t understand the concerns of Blacks, Hispanics and other minorities and men can’t understand the problems of women. Then how can a candidate without children of her own comprehend the needs of families?
The media were outraged that Mr. Vance would dare to criticize the reproductive choices of women and men. In America, worship of God has been replaced by worship of choice.
USA Today warns, “The comment could haunt Vance, particularly in the 2024 presidential contest, which for many is not only a referendum on abortion access, but women’s rights and freedoms to choose what happens to their bodies.”
Apparently, freedom of choice now includes freedom from having one’s choices questioned.
Politico said Mr. Vance has “a bunch of weird views on gender.” He thinks there are only two.
From the media’s perspective, there’s nothing weird about the Olympic opening ceremony showcasing drag queens mocking Christianity, but saying that we need more children in this country is bizarre.
The United States has a birth dearth. Currently, our fertility rate (the number of children the average woman will have in her lifetime) is 1.6, with 2.1 needed to maintain population stability.
It has been over 50 years since we last had above-replacement fertility. Elon Musk says a collapsing birthrate “is the biggest danger civilization faces by far.”
In 2023, 3.6 million babies were born in the United States, the lowest number since 1979. But our population has grown by 100 million since then. The percentage of older adults is up from 9% in 1960 to 17% today. It’s estimated to increase to 20.6% by 2030.
For the first time, the number of Americans over 65 exceeds those under 15. Across the nation, schools are being turned into senior housing.
The reason for an inverted population pyramid should be obvious.
Increasingly, Americans are making a conscious decision not to have children. In a 2023 Pew Research poll, 47% of adults of childbearing age said they were unlikely to have children — up from 37% in 2018.
Reasons offered include the expense of raising children, carbon footprints and the uncertain state of the world.
But many just don’t want them. In a separate survey, 64% of women 18 to 49 — and 50% of men in the same age group — said being a parent didn’t appeal to them.
Children are messy and costly, and they limit opportunities. Who wants to take the kids to soccer practice when you could be vacationing in Cancun? The DINKs (dual income, no kids) want to spend their money on upscale housing, gourmet dining and saving for a comfortable retirement.
Mr. Vance was saying the childless owe a huge debt to their parents.
The latter raises a generation that will pay the taxes to keep Social Security and Medicare afloat. Their children will become the health care providers to care for the childless in their declining years and the police to keep them safe.
Parents are future-oriented. They know that they will live on through their children and grandchildren. That makes them more conscientious and less susceptible to utopian thinking.
We live in a culture that breeds negativity and pessimism. Parents can afford neither. They have a job to do — a job that fewer and fewer are willing to do.
In the 2007 movie “Live Free or Die Hard,” New York City Detective John McClane risks his life and gets beaten repeatedly to save the country from cyberterrorists. The computer hacker at his side asks him why he’s going through hell for strangers. McClane replies, “Because there’s nobody else to do it right now.” And that’s what makes him “that guy.”
Parents are on the front lines of civilization, sacrificing for our future. That’s what makes them “that guy.”
Mr. Vance grew up in a dysfunctional family and served in the Marine Corps in Iraq. Maybe that’s what gives him the courage to take on the media establishment in the fight for families.
• Don Feder is a columnist with The Washington Times.
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