Saturday, January 5, 2013
For A Preview Of Obama’s America In 2016, Look At The Crack-Up Of California. By Joel Kotkin.
For A Preview Of Obama’s America In 2016, Look At The Crack-Up Of California. By Joel Kotkin. JoelKotkin.com, November 14, 2012.
A Racially Polarized Election Augurs Ill for Barack Obama’s Second Term. By Joel Kotkin.
A Racially Polarized Election Augurs Ill for Barack Obama’s Second Term. By Joel Kotkin. JoelKotkin.com, November 7, 2012.
As Partisan Rancor Rises, States That Back a Loser Will Be Punished. By Joel Kotkin.
As Partisan Rancor Rises, States That Back a Loser Will Be Punished. By Joel Kotkin. JoelKotkin.com, October 5, 2012.
Barack Obama’s New Chicago Politics Abandon Bill Clinton’s Winning Coalition. By Joel Kotkin.
Barack Obama’s New Chicago Politics Abandon Bill Clinton’s Winning Coalition. By Joel Kotkin. JoelKotkin.com, September 4, 2012.
The Unseen Class War That Could Decide the Presidential Election. By Joel Kotkin.
The Unseen Class War That Could Decide the Presidential Election. By Joel Kotkin. NewGeography, August 29, 2012. Also find it here.
The Tribal Election: Barack Obama Turns to the Karl Rove Playbook. By Joel Kotkin.
The Tribal Election: Barack Obama Turns to the Karl Rove Playbook. By Joel Kotkin. JoelKotkin.com, July 24, 2012.
The Rise of Post-Familialism: Humanity’s Future? By Joel Kotkin.
The Rise of Post-Familialism: Humanity’s Future? By Joel Kotkin. JoelKotkin.com, October 12, 2012. Also at New Geography.
The Age of Possibility. By David Brooks. New York Times, November 15, 2012.
Falling birthrates: the threat and the dilemma. By Chrystia Freeland. Reuters, December 7, 2012.
Freeland:
Which is the more powerful agent of social change: fear or sympathy? Women in rich and middle-income countries may soon find themselves enrolled in a real-life experiment testing this proposition. That is because birthrates are dropping in much of the world. Demographics may soon rocket to the top of the political agenda, demanding an entirely new way of thinking about women and motherhood and the economy.
. . . . . . . . . .
Kotkin, for example, sees the falling birthrate as the central feature of what he calls “post-familialism,” a new form of social organization that prizes liberation, personal happiness and perhaps even a “hip” urban aesthetic over the more traditional values of community and self-sacrifice.
This cultural critique – made, not accidentally, mostly by men – misses the central fact about falling birthrates. They are, above all, driven by decisions by women. And, in the countries where we have seen birthrates drop, they are about decisions driven by women who face three defining facts.
First, women have the historically unprecedented power to control their own fertility.
Second, the old close-knit family and community ties that once supported child rearing have been severed by industrialization and urbanization, and not much has emerged to take their place.
Third, women’s economic circumstances have been transformed. Women in countries where birthrates have fallen tend to be richer than were previous generations with higher birthrates or their sisters in countries where the birthrate is still high. But that shift masks some other important characteristics in the life of the middle-class woman in middle- and high-income countries.
She is more likely than ever to work – and to need to work to maintain her family’s middle-class status. She is also more likely to live in a society in which a great deal of time and money must be invested in each child to ensure his or her future success. And, particularly in Europe and the United States, family income has probably stagnated or increased only marginally over the past decade, and certainly since the recent recession.
It is tempting, particularly if you happen to be an affluent man, to frame any choice about childbearing in the lofty language of moral philosophy, to see it as a decision between valuing personal fun in the present over service in the interests of others – one’s children and one’s society – in the future.
But the truth is that for most women, children are the most delightful and luxurious of consumer goods. (Full disclosure: I am the mother of three.) They are, however, expensive, both in terms of time and in terms of money, and more and more women in middle-income and upper-income societies are judging, with considerable sadness, that they simply cannot afford to have as many children as they would like.
This is where the question of fear versus sympathy comes in. For decades, feminists have been demanding that we come up with better ways for women to be both mothers and full members of modern society. That has often been dismissed as a “women’s issue.” So we have not addressed it – and now women are voting with their wombs.
Before long, we will collectively begin to appreciate that the future of our societies, and indeed of humanity itself, depends on finding a better, collective solution to this predicament.
The Age of Possibility. By David Brooks. New York Times, November 15, 2012.
Falling birthrates: the threat and the dilemma. By Chrystia Freeland. Reuters, December 7, 2012.
Freeland:
Which is the more powerful agent of social change: fear or sympathy? Women in rich and middle-income countries may soon find themselves enrolled in a real-life experiment testing this proposition. That is because birthrates are dropping in much of the world. Demographics may soon rocket to the top of the political agenda, demanding an entirely new way of thinking about women and motherhood and the economy.
. . . . . . . . . .
Kotkin, for example, sees the falling birthrate as the central feature of what he calls “post-familialism,” a new form of social organization that prizes liberation, personal happiness and perhaps even a “hip” urban aesthetic over the more traditional values of community and self-sacrifice.
This cultural critique – made, not accidentally, mostly by men – misses the central fact about falling birthrates. They are, above all, driven by decisions by women. And, in the countries where we have seen birthrates drop, they are about decisions driven by women who face three defining facts.
First, women have the historically unprecedented power to control their own fertility.
Second, the old close-knit family and community ties that once supported child rearing have been severed by industrialization and urbanization, and not much has emerged to take their place.
Third, women’s economic circumstances have been transformed. Women in countries where birthrates have fallen tend to be richer than were previous generations with higher birthrates or their sisters in countries where the birthrate is still high. But that shift masks some other important characteristics in the life of the middle-class woman in middle- and high-income countries.
She is more likely than ever to work – and to need to work to maintain her family’s middle-class status. She is also more likely to live in a society in which a great deal of time and money must be invested in each child to ensure his or her future success. And, particularly in Europe and the United States, family income has probably stagnated or increased only marginally over the past decade, and certainly since the recent recession.
It is tempting, particularly if you happen to be an affluent man, to frame any choice about childbearing in the lofty language of moral philosophy, to see it as a decision between valuing personal fun in the present over service in the interests of others – one’s children and one’s society – in the future.
But the truth is that for most women, children are the most delightful and luxurious of consumer goods. (Full disclosure: I am the mother of three.) They are, however, expensive, both in terms of time and in terms of money, and more and more women in middle-income and upper-income societies are judging, with considerable sadness, that they simply cannot afford to have as many children as they would like.
This is where the question of fear versus sympathy comes in. For decades, feminists have been demanding that we come up with better ways for women to be both mothers and full members of modern society. That has often been dismissed as a “women’s issue.” So we have not addressed it – and now women are voting with their wombs.
Before long, we will collectively begin to appreciate that the future of our societies, and indeed of humanity itself, depends on finding a better, collective solution to this predicament.
Why it’s All About Ohio: The Five Nations of American Politics. By Joel Kotkin.
Why it’s All About Ohio: The Five Nations of American Politics. By Joel Kotkin. JoelKotkin.com, November 8, 2012.
The fiscal cliff deal: America’s European moment.
The fiscal cliff deal: America’s European moment. The Economist, January 5, 2013.
JPMorgan Chase & Co Thanksgiving Commercial. Video.
JPMorgan Chase & Co Thanksgiving Commerical. Video, November 22, 2012. YouTube. Also find it here.
This video is a brilliant and inspiring evocation of the Jacksonian ideals of patriotism and American exceptionalism. A Wall Street bank using Jacksonian mythopoetic imagery to convince the public of its commitment to American nationalism and the well-being of the American people.
This video is a brilliant and inspiring evocation of the Jacksonian ideals of patriotism and American exceptionalism. A Wall Street bank using Jacksonian mythopoetic imagery to convince the public of its commitment to American nationalism and the well-being of the American people.
Nation needs a new agenda on guns. By Donald Kaul.
Nation needs a new agenda on guns. By Donald Kaul. Des Moines Register, December 29, 2012. Also find it here.
This time, the debate has to be about more than not offending the NRA’s sensibilities.
This time, the debate has to be about more than not offending the NRA’s sensibilities.
Des Moines Register publishes gun-ban column advocating deadly violence against NRA, GOP leaders. By Tim Graham. FoxNews.com, January 2, 2013.
Off the Rails: How the Party of Lincoln Became the Party of Plutocrats. By Joel Kotkin.
Off the Rails: How the Party of Lincoln Became the Party of Plutocrats. By Joel Kotkin. JoelKotkin.com, November 23, 2012.
A Populism Worthy of the Name. By Ross Douthat.
A Populism Worthy of the Name. By Ross Douthat. New York Times, January 4, 2013.
Thomas B. Edsall of the New York Times Asks, “Is Rush Limbaugh’s Country Gone?” By Rush Limbaugh.
Thomas B. Edsall of the New York Times Asks, “Is Rush Limbaugh’s Country Gone?” By Rush Limbaugh. RushLimbaugh.com, November 19, 2012. YouTube video here.
Is Rush Limbaugh’s Country Gone? By Thomas B. Edsall.
Is Rush Limbaugh’s Country Gone? By Thomas B. Edsall. New York Times, November 18, 2012.
The Culture War and the Jobs Crisis. By Thomas B. Edsall.
The Culture War and the Jobs Crisis. By Thomas B. Edsall. New York Times, November 11, 2012.
The Realist Tradition in American Public Opinion. By Daniel W. Drezner.
The Realist Tradition in American Public Opinion. By Daniel W. Drezner. Perspectives on Politics, March 2008. Also find it here.
Shocker: Americans Actually Are Realists. By Walter Russell Mead.
Shocker: Americans Actually Are Realists. By Walter Russell Mead. Via Meadia, January 5, 2013.
The Once and Future Liberalism. By Walter Russell Mead.
The Once and Future Liberalism. By Walter Russell Mead. The American Interest, March/April 2012.
Union Civil War Reveals Blue Dilemma. By Walter Russell Mead.
Union Civil War Reveals Blue Dilemma. By Walter Russell Mead. Via Meadia, January 5, 2013.
Sandra Fluke Opening Statement. C-SPAN Video.
Sandra Fluke Opening Statement Before the House Democratic Steering and Policy Committe, February 23, 2012. C-SPAN Video. YouTube.
Women’s Health and Contraception, February 23, 2012. House Democratic Steering and Policy Committee (complete hearing). C-SPAN Video.
The Palestinian Implosion. By Ziad Asali and Ghaith al-Omari.
The Palestinian Implosion. By Ziad Asali and Ghaith al-Omari. Foreign Policy, January 3, 2013.
Pistols at Eight Paces: Jackson Wins, Dickinson Dies. By Jarrett Stepman.
Pistols at Eight Paces: Jackson Wins, Dickinson Dies. By Jarrett Stepman. Human Events, May 30, 2012.
How “Old Hickory” Reacted to Murdered Americans in Distant Lands. By Jarrett Stepman.
How “Old Hickory” Reacted to Murdered Americans in Distant Lands. By Jarrett Stepman. Human Events, November 2, 2012.
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