Cars and families

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You'd have to be deeply stupid to call Mark Steyn "deeply stupid." Here he notes that even liberals are starting to take note of the problems posed by declining birth rates.

In more demography news (which I don't find boring in the least, Mark -- I love it when you speak demography), family size is seen as a function of the size of the family car.

There is a — drumroll, please — demographic element to the automobile question. Europeans often ask, "Why do Americans need those big cars?" The short answer is: Because Americans have kids and Europeans don't. So Italians and Spaniards and Germans (and Japanese) can drive around in things the size of a Chevy Suburban's cupholder because they've got nothing to put in them.

If you're a soccer mom schlepping three kids plus little Jimmy from next door around, you need a vehicle of a certain size. In the old days, you could just toss 'em all in there and they'd roll around as you took the hairpin bends in fourth gear. But now you can't stick kids in the front and you need baby seats for the youngest and booster seats for the oldest and soon nanny-state regulation will require every American under 37 to be in a rear-facing child seat, which is a pretty good metaphor for where the country's going.

That's one little example of the way bigger and bigger government, with its layer upon layer of regulations to make us safe, preempts our very vitality. As a parent I'm adamant about car seats and seat belts for my children. I would use them with or without government telling me I must, because my highest priority as a parent is in protecting my children from harm. This is my proper role. (You might ask: Would we even have seat belts if it weren't for government mandates? One could argue that consumer demand for safety might result in safe cars. Some consumers place safety ratings high on the list when they're shopping for a new car.)

When you see some of the consequences of the ever-expanding nanny state, its hard not to question the role of government as insulator from all bad things. (Am I becoming a libertarian?)

From Mark:

And, if you mandate small cars and child-seat regulations, don't be surprised if the size of the American family starts heading south, too. The difference between U.S. and European vehicles isn't an emblem of environmental irresponsibility or American corpulence but of something more basic and important.

Namely, the willingness to embrace risk in the pursuit of happiness.

Or to put it another way, human beings don't breed well in captivity.

It's really all about fear. Big government appeals to the fearful who want to believe their falls will be cushioned. We're all afraid at times. But the chronically fearful, in their attempt to avoid failure and loss, which are integral to living, will also avoid success and fulfillment.

*Marianne's family (see comments), like the P&P family, doesn't think it makes sense to let your family size be determined by the size of the car you happen to own.

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