Weekly Digest: America's Demographic Winter
Welcome to my weekly digest for April 29, 2022.
For new subscribers, this contains a roundup of my recent writings and podcasts, as well as links to the best articles from around the web this week. You can control what emails you get from me by visiting your account page.
Introducing the Subscriber Knowledge Base
Each week I include some of the most interesting links from around the web in this digest. I’ve also referenced a slew of informative articles in my newsletters over the course of the last several years.
I’ve now collected the best of these into an organized database you can browse on the web. It’s the start of a Knowledge Base for my Subscribers here. I intend to make additional resources available through this in the coming months, including a couple of upcoming Subscriber webinars.
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America’s Demographic Winter
My latest column in Governing magazine looks at flatlining population growth in the United States. Here’s an excerpt:
According to the Census, two-thirds of American counties experienced a natural decrease in population in the last few years. That is, in a reversal of the normal situation, they had more people dying than being born. Again, some of this is from the pandemic. But American birth rates have been falling since the onset of the Great Recession and are now at a record low. Between 2007 and 2020, America’s total fertility rate — the average number of children a woman will have in her lifetime — declined from a replacement level of 2.12 to just 1.64. U.S. fertility rates are starting to look much more like those in Europe than they used to. And countries throughout the world have found it very difficult to raise fertility rates, even with significant public subsidies.
Click through to read the whole thing.
More Content and Media Mentions
I was asked to write a short piece for the Institute for Family Studies about what healthy masculinity is. I threw the question out on twitter and got a range of interesting replies.
New this week:
Lessons from Grove City (Subscriber Only) - I look at the controversies around “CRT” at Grove City College.
Introducing the Subscriber Knowledge Base (Subscriber Only) - Information and access instructions for my new Knowledge Base.
My podcast on managerialism vs. localism - Why in a managerial world where power resides in large institutions, localism is necessary but not sufficient. Subscribers can read the transcript.
At American Reformer, Brad Littlejohn writes on America’s Christian founding, and Timon Cline about our distinctly Protestant states.
You can listen to my podcast on Apple, Google, or YouTube.
Best of the Web
Business Insider: Babies are a status symbol in today's economy: It's the 'haves and have-nots' of who can afford children
Institute for Family Studies: The Mr. & Mrs. Degree: Which Colleges Have the Highest Marriage Rates? - Very interesting stuff in here
NPR: A 4-year-old can run errands alone ... and not just on reality TV
Today: I wanted my son to reject masculine stereotypes. Then he fell in love with tractors - Credit to this man for allowing his boy to be a boy. But I think this shows that when it comes to gender, left-leaning parents are often pushing to subvert their child’s gender identity rather than affirming it. He did not take a hand’s off approach to finding out his son’s preferences but was actively trying to shape them.
NYT: The mental health crisis among US teens - it’s interesting that as teenagers have given up the traditional acts of rebellion or ways of dealing with angst - like drinking and smoking - they are becoming more mentally ill.
Revolver News: Leaked Documents Expose How USAID Disguised Millions in COVID Relief to Fund Population Control, Abortion