We Need Great Mothers

Yesterday was Mother's Day. Hopefully, you were able to spend some time with your grandmother, mother, and/or wife and were able to show her the love she deserves for doing the hard work of being a mother.Every child who has a loving mother knows the importance that a mom plays in a child's development. While fatherlessness, a lack of fathers in the home, is frequently lamented as the problem of the times, the issue of motherlessness poses a possibly even greater harm. After all, without mothers, there would be no boys for fathers to set an example for.It is this problem of motherlessness that besets the modern West. The fertility rate in the United States is now far below replacement at 1.78. The last time it was close to replacement was 2008 when it was 2.05. Back in 1958, we had a fertility rate of 3.58.Low fertility rates present a multitude of dangers. Foremost, if people don’t have kids, the population will slowly shrink given zero net immigration. With an atrophied population, the industrial output of the United States shall collapse with insufficient manpower to innovate and manufacture. America’s current welfare state is reliant on young people to pay taxes for programs that benefit the elderly, such as Social Security and Medicare, and without a large young adult population, the tax base will shrink and collapse under the burden of the deficit. Already beset by worse economic prospects than their forebears, America’s youth cannot expect to receive the government benefits enjoyed by baby boomers despite paying into the system. If birth rates continue to decline, the economic prosperity of upcoming generations shall be swallowed by their parents’ selfishness. The remedy to this problem won’t be a quick fix, but rather a multitude of solutions that combined will produce a class of mothers willing to sacrifice their personal and economic ambitions for the good of future generations. Below are the top few solutions that could help America to a healthy fertility rate, shouldering the burden of a growing and dependent elderly class.Return to ChristianityIf America was allowed only one solution to get back to an above-replacement fertility rate, it would be to get Americans back in church. The percentage of people who attended church weekly has dropped from 49% in 1958 to 31% now. As religiosity has declined, birth rates have fallen off a cliff.Weekly church attendees are one of the only groups that still have a replacement birth rate of approximately 2.1-2.2. Women who were religious but attended church less than weekly have a below replacement fertility rate of 1.8-1.9. However, the lowest birth rate by far is among the non-religious, who have a fertility rate of about 1.4.Resistance to abortion among traditional Christians, namely Catholics and Orthodox, as well as contraceptives such as birth control, condoms, and the pill contribute to a higher than average fertility rate. If these contraceptive measures were restricted among the whole population, an average increase in the fertility rate would ensue.Yet, ultimately, the cause of churchgoers’ higher fertility rate is best attributed to their faith. Whereas religion affirms life, a lack of religiosity produces nihilism, a pervasive purposelessness stemming from materialism, churchgoers want children because they believe in a purpose beyond themselves, something worthy of sacrifice. Those who believe in God view children as blessings, rather than a drain on their resources and time. Where materialism exalts the self, religion provides an antidote to the selfishness of motherlessness. Revive Authentic MasculinityAlthough it’s easy to cry on the internet about how women should become more feminine, they will only revert to more classical forms of femininity after men return to more classical forms of masculinity. Instead of obsessing over trying to style their hair in the latest trend or painting their nails, men need to focus on making themselves more masculine through work, exercise, and camaraderie with other men. The obsession with learning “game” channels the same feminine impulse of trying to appeal to the whims of women. Instead, men should aim to become strong and competent for their own sake, and women will be attracted to them as a byproduct.In addition, although the modern phenomenon of women feeling the need to go into a career and be independent is partially media-driven, it’s also because of a lack of men who could properly take care of those women. A subset of men are still masculine and capable, but a growing proportion are turning to pornography, weed, and video games instead of going into the world and making something of themselves. “Red-pilled” men can complain as much as they want about the lack of femininity in women, but instead they should become masculine and dependable themselves.Limit College Access for WomenAnother major factor in lowering birth rates is the number of women currently attending university. In college, women delay their ability to have kids, as most in university don’t have the time and money to take care of the child. The window for childbearing is greatly reduced by the time young women spend in universities.This effect is most pronounced for some of the smartest women, whose progeny would benefit America the most, as they go into fields such as medicine or law. With medicine, for example, a woman graduates high school, then has four years of college, four years of med school, and then two years of residency. By that time, she is 28-29, and having kids would be even harder because she likely has hundreds of thousands of dollars in loans to pay off, making it more financially difficult to have children. If women’s access to college was restricted and they instead were encouraged to go into more feminine paths such as childcare, it would be much easier for them to get married earlier and produce the children America needs.