Since Ms. Sargeant name checks me in this article, I feel compelled to respond. Contrary to what she may think I consider myself very pro-family. I don’t actually disagree with much but I do want to pushback on the claim that egg-freezing causes women to postpone looking for a life partner. The two are not mutually exclusive. Most women I know who choose to freeze their eggs are actively looking but just haven’t found the right person yet, and plan to continue doing so even after they freeze their eggs. It just removes some of the pressure so that they can hopefully make better decisions and they and their future partner and children will be better off for it.
Out of curiosity, when did you start calling yourself a conservative Leah? IIRC you used to say you were "Nisbettian, so not really either left or right". Did you change your mind about the labels or did your substantive views on econ Qs change?
I still say mostly that I am simply Catholic, which puts me to the right and left of both American parties in various ways. In the American context, though, my views on family (opposition to abortion, in favor of a robust understanding of man-woman marriage, against surrogacy) put me pretty strongly in the "conservative" camp, and it's to other people in that camp that this essay is addressed.
Here’s the problem: it’s nice to be a witness on a small scale. Your example with schooling etc. is spot on. But the problem is left-liberals have always done this. They have always chosen conservative institutions and conservative lifestyles for themselves. They will send their own children to single sex preparatory religious schools. They usually don’t need a whole lot of convincing. But they will insist there is nothing objectively good or better about that and it is just their personal preference when that just isn’t true and these things would actually be good for all of society. Or Joe Biden type Catholics. It’s a problem and I don’t really know how you bring light to that issue without just saying it plainly.
Rob Henderson has written extensively on this behavior and calls is "luxury beliefs". A luxury belief doesn't just boosts your chances for success but also diminishes the chances of those beneath you on the socio-economic ladder.
So in your schools example, liberals sending their children to $50K/yr private elementary schools while insisting that public schools are the best place for children (if only they were supported the way they should be) and opposing charter schools is a great example. It boosts their kids chance for success while simultaneously making it harder for children whose parents actually take their advice to get ahead.
Other examples from Henderson:
Defund the police - liberals can afford private security (BTW: Privatizing safety is the way of most of the world already.)
Downplaying marriage - College-educated liberals are the most likely to get and stay married while insisting there's nothing valuable about doing so.
Tech elites limiting their own kids access to social media.
Conservatives can be prone to the same thing. Look at the middle-class+ conservatives insisting there's no value in a college degree despite making sure their own kids get them.
On a global scale, the global warming racket is also a luxury belief by making is harder for developing countries to build power plants that use the cheapest and most widely available source of power on the planet: coal.
Hard disagree on global warming. It's a terrible problem, and also your talking point that coal is cheapest? Way out-of-date. Solar is cheapest, thank God.
Your claim that "solar is cheapest" is belied by the fact that it requires subsidizes and mandates to get it constructed in the WEIRDs. China, which is sensitive only to price despite its eco-friendly rhetoric, has constructed 100GW of coal plans in the last 18 months and has almost 300GW already approved for construction. If solar were really cheaper, they wouldn't be building coal. Also, replacing the spot-generating capacity of a fossil fuel plant requires not only panels (or windmills) but batteries to store the power for when it's needed. Including this cost (which is only fair, since gas / coal plants can come on whenever needed) raises solar's price considerably. Panel tech has improved greatly; industrial batteries still pretty much suck.
However, my point isn't really about whether the climate is warming or whether solar is cheaper. The "luxury belief" is the extreme but elite-common view that we must stop burning all fossil fuels or we're all going to die. There is no science to back up that claim. Even Bill Gates (global warming crusader right along with Al Gore) has walked that back in the last 2 years. And that belief -- "don't use fossil fuels" -- directly makes first-time industrialization MUCH harder throughout the developing world.
No reasonable person says "we must stop burning all fossil fuels or we're going to die." But an accurate statement would be "we need to seriously reduce fossil fuels or we'll suffer a level of climate change that will wreck our seasonal rhythms, traditions, and way of life." And that's a big enough tragedy in and of itself.
The comparison to Classical Education makes me wonder what institutions we could implement to help. AOC doesn't even have a husband. Without finding a spouse in the 20s, there is little hope of having a large family. I wonder if we could implement some kind of Ball system with an eye towards matchmaking and marriage, as a continuation of conservatives setting up parallel institutions. Instead of apps, try formal dancing and etiquette.
My husband and I don’t have children, but our nephew and his wife recently had their first, and we are thrilled!!! We hope there will be more, but for now we’ll enjoy and celebrate the newest member of the family.
As for AOC, I’m fine if she wants to freeze her eggs, and I’m also fine if that’s something she wants to talk about. Maybe we didn’t need to see her “bloated” stomach or watch her give herself an injection. Then again, that might just be me.
Since Ms. Sargeant name checks me in this article, I feel compelled to respond. Contrary to what she may think I consider myself very pro-family. I don’t actually disagree with much but I do want to pushback on the claim that egg-freezing causes women to postpone looking for a life partner. The two are not mutually exclusive. Most women I know who choose to freeze their eggs are actively looking but just haven’t found the right person yet, and plan to continue doing so even after they freeze their eggs. It just removes some of the pressure so that they can hopefully make better decisions and they and their future partner and children will be better off for it.
Great article. Same for religion
Out of curiosity, when did you start calling yourself a conservative Leah? IIRC you used to say you were "Nisbettian, so not really either left or right". Did you change your mind about the labels or did your substantive views on econ Qs change?
I still say mostly that I am simply Catholic, which puts me to the right and left of both American parties in various ways. In the American context, though, my views on family (opposition to abortion, in favor of a robust understanding of man-woman marriage, against surrogacy) put me pretty strongly in the "conservative" camp, and it's to other people in that camp that this essay is addressed.
Here’s the problem: it’s nice to be a witness on a small scale. Your example with schooling etc. is spot on. But the problem is left-liberals have always done this. They have always chosen conservative institutions and conservative lifestyles for themselves. They will send their own children to single sex preparatory religious schools. They usually don’t need a whole lot of convincing. But they will insist there is nothing objectively good or better about that and it is just their personal preference when that just isn’t true and these things would actually be good for all of society. Or Joe Biden type Catholics. It’s a problem and I don’t really know how you bring light to that issue without just saying it plainly.
Rob Henderson has written extensively on this behavior and calls is "luxury beliefs". A luxury belief doesn't just boosts your chances for success but also diminishes the chances of those beneath you on the socio-economic ladder.
So in your schools example, liberals sending their children to $50K/yr private elementary schools while insisting that public schools are the best place for children (if only they were supported the way they should be) and opposing charter schools is a great example. It boosts their kids chance for success while simultaneously making it harder for children whose parents actually take their advice to get ahead.
Other examples from Henderson:
Defund the police - liberals can afford private security (BTW: Privatizing safety is the way of most of the world already.)
Downplaying marriage - College-educated liberals are the most likely to get and stay married while insisting there's nothing valuable about doing so.
Tech elites limiting their own kids access to social media.
Conservatives can be prone to the same thing. Look at the middle-class+ conservatives insisting there's no value in a college degree despite making sure their own kids get them.
On a global scale, the global warming racket is also a luxury belief by making is harder for developing countries to build power plants that use the cheapest and most widely available source of power on the planet: coal.
Hard disagree on global warming. It's a terrible problem, and also your talking point that coal is cheapest? Way out-of-date. Solar is cheapest, thank God.
Your claim that "solar is cheapest" is belied by the fact that it requires subsidizes and mandates to get it constructed in the WEIRDs. China, which is sensitive only to price despite its eco-friendly rhetoric, has constructed 100GW of coal plans in the last 18 months and has almost 300GW already approved for construction. If solar were really cheaper, they wouldn't be building coal. Also, replacing the spot-generating capacity of a fossil fuel plant requires not only panels (or windmills) but batteries to store the power for when it's needed. Including this cost (which is only fair, since gas / coal plants can come on whenever needed) raises solar's price considerably. Panel tech has improved greatly; industrial batteries still pretty much suck.
However, my point isn't really about whether the climate is warming or whether solar is cheaper. The "luxury belief" is the extreme but elite-common view that we must stop burning all fossil fuels or we're all going to die. There is no science to back up that claim. Even Bill Gates (global warming crusader right along with Al Gore) has walked that back in the last 2 years. And that belief -- "don't use fossil fuels" -- directly makes first-time industrialization MUCH harder throughout the developing world.
No reasonable person says "we must stop burning all fossil fuels or we're going to die." But an accurate statement would be "we need to seriously reduce fossil fuels or we'll suffer a level of climate change that will wreck our seasonal rhythms, traditions, and way of life." And that's a big enough tragedy in and of itself.
What utter bullshit. Your mania for reproduction is nothing but the byproduct of your fascism and racism.
Great article and thank you for the lovely poem that I had never read before!
The comparison to Classical Education makes me wonder what institutions we could implement to help. AOC doesn't even have a husband. Without finding a spouse in the 20s, there is little hope of having a large family. I wonder if we could implement some kind of Ball system with an eye towards matchmaking and marriage, as a continuation of conservatives setting up parallel institutions. Instead of apps, try formal dancing and etiquette.
My neighborhood/church hosts square dances and swing dances for older teens with this in mind!
My husband and I don’t have children, but our nephew and his wife recently had their first, and we are thrilled!!! We hope there will be more, but for now we’ll enjoy and celebrate the newest member of the family.
As for AOC, I’m fine if she wants to freeze her eggs, and I’m also fine if that’s something she wants to talk about. Maybe we didn’t need to see her “bloated” stomach or watch her give herself an injection. Then again, that might just be me.