Recent content by Brad Sallows

It was still very alive into the '80s. Only a very small handful of the women (mothers, wives) in the suburb I grew up in had jobs, and few of those were on career tracks. Part of what upset the balance was people having fewer or no kids, which increased disposable income. $500,000 ?

Men don't have final say in the final outcome of a pregnancy, but men are generally held responsible financially for supporting children they fathered. They have a stake. Men are also still generally expected to financially support themselves (minimum respect), support a family (more respect)...

A stipulation isn't a fallacy; it's a point agreed to in advance, usually as a premise conceded to anyone who might otherwise take up an objection. I had decided to take a pass on being too blunt about your assumption of things that just aren't so. My mom did family daycare for 20 years, and...

There are always exceptions. Acknowledging them up front and stressing that they are exceptions frames the discussion so there's no nonsense about "Aha! You said 'all' - or 'none' - and I found an exception", or where on the spectrum of "most/many/some/few" things fit. If you're reduced to...

One thing could be a straightforward public education campaign. After mid-30s, women's fertility (already dropping) starts to drop off rapidly. After mid-30s, quality of men's "contribution" deteriorates (genetically). People will go to a lot of effort to give their children advantages, when...

Trying to improve civic engagement is one side of the problem. The other side would be to stop degrading civic engagement. Basically, whenever governments step in to take up a role filled by voluntary associations, the voluntary associations wither.

As with everything we need to do, all it takes is money.

Separating pre-school care from education, kids aren't commodities. Childcare is a service to parents and children. For whatever reason - the reasons don't matter - parents have to work, and the children can't be left unattended for long periods. Stipulating that there may be specific...

Constant popular vote whinging is pointless. The political structure agreed to was the compromise necessary to get the parties to agree to form the US in the first place. Everyone understood the population imbalances among the colonies. They probably spent more time deliberating and debating...

It's past winter. People can manage in the wilderness if they have to. You just remain still enough for a carpet of black flies and mosquitoes to settle, and you'll be warm enough to survive the night.

Are you referring to child care when you refer to "commoditization"?

Being a centrist is the outcome of particular ideals and acting on them, not an accident of vacillation.

Food supply hasn't been degraded by the consequences of ill-conceived heavy-handed government meddling yet, but they're working on it.

Pro-natalism encompasses policies that are expected to motivate people to have children. Whether or not the policies are to the benefit of the children would be a different -ism.

“You have sat too long here for any good you have been doing. Depart, I say, and let us have done with you. In the name of God, go.”