Newborn Julian Reed / Rick Danzl, AP




Problems seen abroad

Other countries have gone even further down that road.

The Russian government is offering incentives now for women who produce babies. Japan's birth rate has fallen so dramatically that the Japanese population has the oldest average age on earth. Last year, more diapers were bought and used by aging Japanese than were purchased for babies.

China, with its "one-child" policy, is not producing enough females for Chinese men to marry. Its birth rate is plummeting. France, Germany and other European countries are also concerned. Declining fertility is a worldwide phenomenon.


When calculations were made to test the viability of Social Security in the 1930s, the numbers appeared to "work" because the young and healthy were always expected to outnumber those who were old and sick. Now politicians are talking quietly about the inevitability of "rationed health care."

World without children?

It comes down to this: A society with a serious decline in its birth rate will become a world without springtime or regeneration. The laughter and exuberance of the young will become a diminishing treasure. The result will be a self-absorbed culture dominated by old, tired, dying individuals. The world will be the worse for it.

It's not too late for politicians to begin cherishing and nourishing our families and treating them as our greatest natural resource. Instead, with the exception of the child tax credit, legislatures have showed a disregard for the contributions of this venerable institution.

For example, in 1969, Congress imposed a "marriage penalty tax" on married couples. It continued for the next 32 years. By contrast, unmarried couples living together, most without children, received tax advantages.

Now, President Obama wants to reinstate the marriage penalty under the guise of ending "tax breaks for the rich." Come on, America. We can do better than that.


Boys and girls are among God's most precious gifts to humanity and our link to future generations.

James Dobson, a child development specialist, is founder of Family Talk radio broadcasts.


Copyright 2015

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