The American Spectator

Reader Mail

Blinded by Pork

4.25.08 @ 12:01AM

(Page 5 of 5)

Thanks,
-- C. Baker
Fort Worth, Texas

ON THE BIO
Re: Ty Knoy's letter (under "Malthus is my Muse") in Reader Mail's Never Ending Swansong:

At least in temperament, like Mr. Knoy,. I am not particularly sanguine about the future. Of all my concerns, I worry least about what would happen under free markets in grain or most anything else for that matter. While most during his life had high regard for Thomas Malthus, I don't believe subsequent events have "served" him well. Unfortunate to his memory and more unfortunate to the well-being of millions of others, his theory had been put to evil purposes -- not the least of which is complacency for some in the face of human misery

More germane to our discussion, empirical observations have not borne Malthus' predictions out. The mistake Malthus made was that he assumed a number of factors as being constant when most realities in human societies did not remain the same. (Not the least of which were improvements in agriculture.) He also misjudged a feature of human nature. The effect of higher incomes and readily available food has not resulted in larger families as he posited. In fact, birth rates in highly-developed nations have dropped to bare replacement-levels, such that many Western nations like the U.S. and Canada only grow due to immigration, and Japan faces a declining population when the post-World War II generation dies off.

"Pre-modern" parents didn't have more children simply because they liked them. The economic reality was 1.) Children supported the family in terns of labor and care for the parents as they become old. 2.) Mortality among children was savagely high. As incomes and food increased and medical care vastly improved and become more widespread, parents were relieved of the economic pressure to have large families. Instead, enrichment could be invested in a smaller number of children and parents could rely more upon themselves in old age.

My misgivings about bio-fuels are more in acceptation they will prove to be giant boondoggles than they will deprive food to the hungry in perpetuity. For all its faults, the free market still is the best in providing foods and materials to the populations of the world. If some go hungry, let us turn to our generosity rather than turning to the clumsy levers of government.
-- Michael Dooley

EXPORTING PROPERTY LAW
Re: Tom Bethell's Property and Its Discontents:

It is difficult to believe that something so internationally massive as exporting democracy and capitalism can be so wrong-headed -- but it is. The emphasis needed is to export, if anything, the principles that produced the two artifacts of democracy and capitalism. What are these principles? Read the Federalist Papers, the history of the writing of the U.S. Constitution, etc. But perhaps before we talk about exporting we should talk about restoring those here at home. The best teaching is, and always has been, by example.
-- L. J. Chisholm
West Virginia

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