Overpopulation and the Cheapening of Human Life

The consequences of overpopulation are many, ranging from wars for diminishing resources to environmental depredation. One consequence that is seldom discussed and represents a direct contradiction of the tenants of major religions, which declare their concern for human life, is the cheapening of human life and the consequences of that fact. For example the Christian Bible tells the faithful to be fruitful and multiply. This dictum springs from a tribal concern to maintain and increase its population as a protection against tribal extinction and a tool for tribal domination.

We ooh and ahh over a newborn infant.  We manufacture plastic fetuses for young girls to cherish as a doll. We denounce abortion as murdering a fetus and oppose anti-abortion forces in terms of a woman’s right to govern her own body, but not as a threat to the infant’s future.

Perhaps the most impressive demonstration of overpopulation’s cheapening of human life and its consequences is to be seen in what happens when human populations are suddenly underpopulated.

In the latter part of the 14^th century and the early part of the 15^th century Europe was ravaged by the Black Plague. It lost about an estimated 45 to 50% of Europe’s population. As a result the value of labor rose astronomically. This led to greatly increased job opportunities and labor mobility. In consequence serfdom began to disappear, primogeniture of inheritance diminished and according to Branko Milanovica”s article titled Can Black Death Explain the Industrial Revolution?, it even played a significant role in the development  of the Industrial Revolution In England some 400 years later. In brief, scarcity, as it so frequently does, breeds value.

But how does this play out in the 21^st century?

·      War – Life is cheap, especially that of the young who have accumulated no wealth or status. Notice the prevalence of conflict in Africa. In addition to its current overpopulation it is projected to provide the majority of the population increase in the 21^st century.

A scholarly paper I read a number of years ago found that the U.S. military devoted more recruiting resources to the Southern states because recruitment was more successful. In this country, as in the rest of the world, poverty produces soldiers.

·      Destruction of democracy

Overpopulation by cheapening human life increases poverty. The split between the haves and have nots grows wider and wider thus destroying the equality of power that democracy requires. We have seen this happening in the United States. The cheap labor of Asia destroyed jobs in this country and forced workers to accept considerably more menial jobs at lower wages. This has contributed strongly to the migration of increasing wealth to the economic elite, thus destroying our democracy by turning it into an oligarchy of wealth. The lesson many Americans have to learn here is that democracy is absolutely dependent upon an equality of wealth and to the extent this is not the case democracy is imperiled and begins to lose its hold on the body politic. All the rhetoric about voting is just that- rhetoric. We see the results daily in our national and local politics.

·      Job loss

We hear it from all points of the political spectrum because it is having such a serious impact on so many Americans. As population increases and the cost of labor continues to decline, the loss rate will increase until humanity rethinks the “job.”

The basic function of the job in a democracy is to distribute society’s gross domestic product among the populace. As jobs are imperiled by overpopulation, automation, longer work lives, etc., the job increasingly fails in its role of distributing the gross domestic product to a society’s citizens. Eventually, if the human forebrain continues to devise labor saving devices, we will have to develop a method other than the job to distribute society’s productivity. Some of you may remember the feather-bedding of railroad firemen as diesel engines replaced coal-fired steam engines. For a while firemen remained on diesel-drawn trains where they did nothing. Technology has been a major driver in producing unemployment and its attendant miseries. It has allowed corporations to export jobs and robotize our own manufacturing plants and commercial activity. Some thoughtful investigators, such as Bill Joy, co-founder of Sun Microsystems, fear that computer technology will eventually replace us unless we are very careful in how, or whether, we implement this technology.

In sum, all those anti-abortion, anti-birth control forces have a lot to answer for. Every little girl taught to carry a fetus doll, faces a world of over population and increasingly a distraught life. The emotion of joy at a child’s birth must be  tempered by human reason if our species is to protect and restore planet Earth, our only home. Let us not cheapen human life, let us value it, but understand that said values are totally dependent upon limiting the number of humans on our planet.

Bob Newhard

Learning from Bernie

When Bernie Sanders circulated his petition, I believe it was in 2011, asking people whose opinion he valued whether he should run for President of the United States, he sought the opinion of thinking, concerned people such as David Korten, author of When Corporations Rule the World. David said “Yes, we need you.” Unlike most candidates Bernie was seeking knowledge not money. 

Another lesson Bernie has for Progressives is to seek knowledge of the human condition and of the potential for improving it. Bernie has, for example, declared that he would value Paul Krugman and Joe Stiglitz as members of his administration. For Bernie, thinking and a fundamental concern for human welfare matter. With this kind of focus Bernie invites people to be participants, not merely supporters.

Bernie has shown us how to deal with distractions, important though they may be. After the Black Lives Matter people interrupted and stopped his speech he met with them, presented his proposals for addressing racism, which met with their approval, but did so in the context of his overriding economic message.

After the disruption some pundits voiced their belief the Bernie’s campaign was finished because of this racial issue. However, he has continued to draw large crowds and now has overtaken Clinton in New Hampshire and Iowa. I believe we have seen something of the depth of Bernie’s understanding and commitment in this episode. The lesson Progressives should learn is, when dealing with distraction learn, but keep your focus on the fundamental issues.

One of the largest lessons to be learned from Bernie is his deliberate choice to go South, not just in pursuit of additional voters, but to demonstrate to the Democratic Party and progressives that their practice of writing off the South as a lost cause, of which I have been guilty, is wrong and flies in the face of the unification this country so badly needs. By demonstrating  the economic plight Wall Street has placed so many ordinary Americans in, Bernie has shown that economic issues can surmount racial divisions. That he was able to draw thousands in Louisiana evidences the viability of the 50-state political funding emphasis that Howard Dean and Bernie have both pushed. The 50-state policy says, in effect, that all Democrats count when it comes to the use of party campaign funding.

Dean was promptly removed from head of the DNC when Obama was elected and replaced by Rahm Emanuel who strenuously opposed the 50-state idea. Emanuel  eventually went on to become mayor of Chicago and push privatization of the Chicago public school system.

Underneath all of this Bernie is teaching Americans that politics must focus on people and their wellbeing, not on money and the well-being of the rich, both corporate and personal. Maybe we can stop teaching our children that seeking one’s fortune is not a suitable goal in life for a citizen of democracy and that wealth is the enemy of democracy.

Bob Newhard