America Alone: The End of the World As We Know It

A Book Review

By: Newbaum Turk

Posted: 4/9/08

If you are reading this article before a class, ask the students sitting around you this question: "What is the greatest problem that industrialized nations face?" You will no doubt get a wide range of answers; the economy, global warming, corporate greed, energy, and the all-time favorite response for non-thinking people…George W. Bush.

Climate change, you say, is the biggest threat? Try again:

"By the next century, German will be spoken only at Hitler, Himmler, Goebbels and Goering's Monday night poker game in Hell. And long before the Maldive Islands are submerged by "rising sea levels" every Spaniard and Italian will be six feet under. But sure, go ahead and worry about 'climate change.'"

It seems that the correct answer is demographics. Now, you are thinking that a book about population must be tedious and boring, and you would be right if it wasn't for the skillful writing and the sharpest of wits found in Mark Steyn. He is a naturalized American citizen (from Canada) living in New Hampshire, the author of five books and writer of a syndicated column that appears all over the world.

His latest work, America Alone, at first glance seems almost schizophrenic; injecting humor into what would normally be a maudlin affair when writing about the end of the world. His skill as a writer shines when he hits you with anecdote after anecdote which conveys more sobering issues.

How sobering? Let's look at some numbers. In population demographics, the "replacement level" fertility rate is 2.1 children per adult female (or couple). That is the point at which a population neither grows nor shrinks. A fertility rate of 4.2 means that the population will double (roughly) every generation while a 1.1 fertility rate means the population will halve every generation.

What are the fertility rates of the industrialized nations mentioned earlier? Italy, 1.2; Spain, 1.1; Canada, 1.5, Japan, 1.3, Russia, 1.1, Australia, 1.7; and Europe as a whole, 1.4. I'll mention the United States later.

"Good!" you might say…we have heard since grade school that the world is overpopulated with humans and that we are destroying the planet. A "correction" is long over due. But there is a problem. What about the fertility rates for non-industrialized nations? "Somalia, is 6.91, Niger 6.83, Afghanistan 6.78, Yemen 6.75. Notice what those nations have in common?" "In 1970, the developed world had twice as big a share of the global population as the Muslim world: 30% to 15%. By 2000, they were the same: each had about 20%."

Russia and Japan are in population death spirals while Europe is not far behind. How far behind? "What's the Muslim population of Rotterdam? Forty percent. What's the most popular baby boy's name in Belgium? Mohammed. In Malmo, Sweden? Mohammed. By 2005, it was the fifth most popular baby boy's name in the United Kingdom." In two generations, what demographic will be the largest voting bloc in most European nations? You guessed it…and it is at that point that they may simply "vote" for Sharia Law.

What has caused this precipitous decline in the modern world? Steyn thinks that the majority of the problem lies in the pathos that turns everything over to Big Government socialism (social security, welfare, healthcare, etc.) with all of its baggage (diversity and multiculturalism-except for Christianity, of course, which cannot be tolerated). And it is no coincidence that in Europe "four of the five healthiest fertility rates belong to four of the five countries that also score highest for economic freedom: Ireland, Denmark, Finland, and the Netherlands."

If current trends continue, what non-Islamic industrialized nation will remain by the end of this century? Maybe China, if they maintain their "one child" policy, it will get old before it gets wealthy. Plus they have another problem; 119 boys to every 100 girls survive to adulthood. What will become of a 19% surplus of unmarried men? Will they leave? Will they become a societal or criminal underground? The question remains to be answered but it is hard to see the bright side of the situation.

If current trends continue it will be America that survives. Alone. The United States has a fertility rate of 2.07 but would be 1.85 if we didn't have such a large influx of immigrants. But the US is coming dangerously close to our European cousins as long as we keep giving ourselves larger and larger entitlements in order to serve the "public good."

While it is hard not to be pessimistic about the future, Steyn does give a prescription for improving the state of the State. We will have the distinct advantage of watching Europe collapse…which will cause even the hardest of hard-core socialists to pause- a pause that might give us enough time to strike a different path.

On a more positive note, the numbers also suggest American conservatives are reproducing about 12% more than our liberal counterparts…which can only help us in the long run.