Tag: Malthus

Categories
general freedom ideological culture

Population Prophecies Go Poof

Are today’s problems caused by the sheer quantity of people?

No.

A week ago or so, the Los Angeles Times wasted space arguing the wrong side, “The world’s biggest problem? Too many people.” Laura Huggins responded with an able rejoinder, showing that such doomspeak is old hat, falsified by experience. 

She mentions Paul Erlich’s The Population Bomb, in particular, 1968’s classic in the hysterically overblown prophecy genre. Not mentioned, however, is Julian Simons’s brilliant 1981 rejoinder to Ehrlich, The Ultimate Resource. Simons marshals economic argument and a vast array of factual evidence to demonstrate that human ingenuity and the market order provide amazing solutions to problems of scarcity and limited resources. The more people you have, the more solutions can be found. With greater prosperity comes the best possible amelioration to the resource scarcity that so worries and befuddles environmentalists of the Ehrlich stripe.

But really, this is much older hat than that.

The Rev. Thomas Robert Malthus wrote the first book on the subject, back in 1798, and, even  in the course of his life had to expand his tract — and radically tone down his thesis — to make himself look less of a fool. Later, writers such as Nassau Senior and Herbert Spencer demonstrated why Malthus was wrong. Population growth does not necessarily outstrip agricultural productivity. Human co-​operation through markets more than makes up for our physical limitations.

We have the history of the past 200 years to prove it.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.

Categories
term limits

Eternal Vigilance

There have always been prophets of doom. Thomas Malthus predicted that over-​population would exhaust our resources by the end of the century. And that was two centuries ago. Mankind steadily progresses, building on our learning, our methods of production and our technology. The doomsayers are quietly left behind.

But in politics it’s different. A little bit of doomsaying makes sense. Expect the worst and try to prevent it. Our Founders wanted to contain political power. They believed unchecked power would destroy the freedom they had fought for and won. This wasn’t pessimism; it was realism. They had seen the destructive nature of power throughout history. George Washington said, “Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force; like fire, a troublesome servant and a fearful master.” This is why the Founders took such great pains to limit the power of government.

And they knew we were fighting against the odds. As Thomas Jefferson said, “The natural tendency is for government to gain ground and liberty to yield.” Today, we’ve only reconfirmed the lessons taught by the Founders. Even in America, we’ve seen the federal government take more and more of our freedoms and the fruits of our labor. As those in Congress became career politicians, the size and power of the federal government exploded.

We must fight to protect our freedom against those who monopolize political power. According to Jefferson, “Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty.” That’s why he didn’t want eternal politicians.

This is Common Sense. I’m Paul Jacob.