The Press-Dispatch

May 18, 2022

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C-4 Wednesday, May 18, 2022 The Press-Dispatch OPINION Submit Letters to the Editor: Letters must be signed and received by noon on Mondays. Email: editor@pressdispatch.net or bring in a hard copy: 820 E. Poplar Street, Petersburg Freedom is rooted in sanctity of life In 1955, an unmarried pregnant University of Wisconsin graduate student left her home and traveled to San Francisco to a doctor who took in unwed expectant mothers, deliv- ered their babies and helped arrange adoptions. The baby son she delivered and put up for adoption grew up to be- come the legendary business and technology entrepreneur Steve Jobs. Had it been 1975, rather than 1955, there is a reasonable chance there would have never been a Steve Jobs. In 1975 America, after Roe v. Wade became law and where values mark- edly changed such that a young Cath- olic woman felt less shame to be un- married and pregnant, Steve Jobs' mother could well have wound up in a Planned Parenthood clinic. Looking around at the impact of laptop computers, iPhones, social media and remote work, it's hard to imagine what our lives would be like today had that one genius not been born. But the preciousness of every hu- man life depends not on whether that life is a potential Steve Jobs. Each brings their own unique and invalu- able gifts to the world. As the left goes berserk over the leaked Samuel Alito opinion pointing to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, we should consider that we'll never know the gifts of the 63 million chil- dren obliterated since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. The Kaiser Family Foundation re- ports in 2019 that 38 percent of abor- tions were given to Black women. Using this figure, 24 million Black babies — roughly half the current Black population — were removed by abortion since 1973. The United States in 1955 was a nation before the passage of the Civ- il Rights Act. There was segregation; there was racism; and there was pov- erty. But today, many years later, we still have poverty, and our public dis- course is still dominated by allega- tions of racism. According to the rhetoric on the left, there was nothing good about the America of 1955. But this is not true. The state of faith and, because of this, the state of marriage and child- bearing, was far healthier than to- day, both among whites and among Blacks. According to Gallup, as we show in the "State of Black America" re- cently published by my organization, CUREPOLICY, in the early 1960s, 70 percent of Americans said reli- gion was "very important" in their own lives. By the late 1970s, this was down to 52 percent. In 1955, the national fertility rate — the average number of children birthed by women of child-bearing age — was 3.42. Today, this is down to 1.78. The rate needed for a popu- lation to replace itself and not shrink is 2.2. In 1960, 9 percent of Black adults and 8 percent of white adults had nev- er been married. By 2012, this had in- creased to 36 percent among Blacks and 16 percent among whites. In 1960, less than 5 percent of white babies were born to unwed mothers. By 2010, this was up to 29 percent. Among Blacks, in 1960 a little over 20 percent of babies were born to unwed mothers. By 2010, this was up to 72 percent. The secularization of the country in the 1960s did not produce more freedom. It produced more depen- dence on government. Blacks, in this regard, have been hurt the most. In 1950, the federal government took 15.3 percent of the national economy. By 2020, this was up to 32 percent. President Joe Biden, now presid- ing over a nation drowning in debt, inflation and sclerotic growth, said the other day that "The MAGA crowd is the most extreme political organi- zation that has existed in American history." If an aging America without mar- ried fathers and mothers and with- out children is where you think our future lies, then Biden is your man. In 1956, 39 percent of Blacks voted for the Republican presidential can- didate Dwight Eisenhower. We're going back to the future. Organic 'manure' Activists have convinced Amer- icans that "organic" food is better — healthier, better-tasting, life-ex- tending. As a result, poor parents feel guilty if they can't afford to pay $7 for or- ganic eggs. This misinformation is spread by people like Alexis Baden-Mayer, po- litical director of the Organic Con- sumers Association. She says organ- ic food is clearly better: "The nutri- tion is a huge difference." But it isn't. Studies find little dif- ference. If you still want to pay more for what's called "organic," that's your right. But what's outrageous is that this group of scientifically illiterate people convinced the government to force all of us to pay more. Congress has ruled that GMOs (genetically modified food) must be labeled. Busybodies from both par- ties supported the idea. Politicians like Rep. Jim McGov- ern, D-Mass., said, "It doesn't cost any more. This idea that ... this ... will raise food prices is ridiculous." It's McGovern who is ridiculous. The U.S. Department of Agriculture says the GMO labeling will cost from $598 million to $ 3.5 billion. "But the public wants GMOs la- beled," say advocates. "Surveys show that." Of course they do. Ask people if DNA in food should be labeled, and most say yes. Yet DNA is in everything. Polling is a stupid way to make pol- icy. The idea of modifying a plant's DNA may sound creepy, but people have cross-bred plants and animals for years. "The corn we have today, there's nothing natural about that," I say to Baden-Mayer in my new video. "What native people ate, we'd find inedible." Baden-Mayer laughs at that. "You're saying indigenous corn is somehow inferior because you've seen it dried and it has tiny little ker- nels? " she asks. "Yes," I reply. I've tried to eat it. "That's another myth of the indus- try," she responds. "People like you believe that." I sure do. I also believe it's good that genetic modification lets us alter nature more precisely, gene by gene. That's better and safer than the more haphazard crossbreeding that's been done for years. This new precision lets scientists make plants that save lives. In poor parts of the world, half a million people per year go blind due to lack of vitamin A in their diets. Ma- ny die. Scientists have created a new ge- netically modified rice that contains vitamin A. This "golden rice" could save those people. "I've heard of golden rice," sneers Baden-Mayer. "That was a project that all of the chemical companies invested in." I sneer right back. "Golden rice hasn't succeeded partly because scientifically igno- rant fools like you convinced the world that it's harmful! " "I knew at a certain point you would resort to name-calling," she replies. "But it doesn't change the science on this." Sadly, in some countries, people listen to advocates like her and be- lieve that Americans want to poi- son them. One group of GMO fear- ful protesters invaded a golden rice field in the Philippines, ripping up all the plants. Thousands will die or go blind, needlessly, because the organic cult spreads misinformation. At least educated skeptics now un- derstand that they were wrong about GMOs. The New York Times points out that many "quietly walked back their opposition" to GMOs. "The science is clear," says a former opponent in The Wall Street Journal. "They're perfectly safe." The Philippines recently approved golden rice. But the hardcore zealots will nev- er be convinced. Baden-Mayer claims GMOs cause cancer. "We're using more GMOs than ev- er," I point out. "There's less cancer now. Life spans keep increasing." "Compared to when, 100 years ago? " she scoffs. Washington never learns. Never. Politicians are like collective Alzhei- mer's disease patients. They have no short-term memories. Does anyone remember 2008? It was only 14 years ago. Then, America suf- fered through one of the most signifi- cant and most painful financial crises in our nation's history — and the worst losses since the crash of 1929. Millions of people lost their jobs. Hundreds of thousands defaulted on their mortgag- es and lost their homes. Trillions of dollars of lifetime sav- ings and wealth evaporated. Central billion-dollar banks and investment houses that were thought to be invin- cible were swept away like straw huts in the face of a tsunami. The calamity resulted from govern- ment policies that intentionally inflated a housing bubble year after year. Few saw the bursting of the bubble coming. When it popped, the carnage was ev- erywhere and felt from coast to coast. Now there are many of the same flashing signs of a housing bubble — and again, no one is paying attention. A well-respected housing affordabil- ity index fell last month to near the low- est level ever as home prices surged. Mortgage interest rates now exceed 5.2 percent — up from 3.6 percent just two years ago. In some markets, rates are nearing 6 percent. And the Fed is raising rates again, as it should, but this too will likely further inflate mort- gage rates. The average mortgage payment is now $1,800 a month — 70 percent higher than before COVID-19 hit. Many people live pay- check to paycheck and are already financially squeezed due to prices rising faster than pay- checks. The only oth- er time home payments were as high as they are today was in 2007. Yes, on the eve of the Great Financial Crisis. A popular mortgage monitor called Black Knight shows home prices are up 19.9 percent over a year ago. Yes, that's good news for homeowners as their home equity surges. But these gravity-defying home prices are kill- ers for homebuyers, especially young, first-time buyers. Loan-to-income levels are also ris- ing, which makes defaults more like- ly. If housing prices fall, borrowers will start to be pushed underwater with un- paid loans more outstanding than the house's value. They will walk away as millions of borrowers did in 2008 and 2009. If this housing run-up were sim- ply a result of natural supply and de- mand market forces, there wouldn't be a great cause for concern. Alas, Congress, the Fed and hous- ing agencies such as Fannie Mae are pumping air into the bubble. The Fed has artificially held interest rates too low for too long as part of its "stimulus" strate- gy. Meanwhile, the Fed has encouraged home loans by purchasing $2.7 trillion of mortgage-backed secu- rities, and they are held on the central bank's bal- ance sheet. That's precise- ly what it did in the early 2000s. Congress has been passing out hun- dreds of billions for taxpayer-funded rental and mortgage assistance, prop- ping up housing. Meanwhile, Fannie Mae, the federal guarantor of trillions of dollars of mort- gages, is now insuring mortgages of more than $1 million. This program was supposed to help lower-income and first-time homebuyers. Now, mil- lionaires are getting subsidized loans thanks to the tremendous power of the housing lobby made up of realtors, mortgage bankers and homebuilders. If and when the bubble bursts again, everyone gets hurt. Homeownership rates will crash again — which is the opposite of the desired result from all of these government programs. These are the laws of unintended consequences that Congress never learns. The United States has a history of facing seemingly insurmountable chal- lenges, beginning with its founding when Americans won independence by defeating the most powerful nation in the world. We preserved the union and end- ed slavery in a horrific Civil War. We worked our way through the Great De- pression and led the Allies to victory in World War II. We withstood the shocks of assassinations of political leaders, defeat in Vietnam and a cultural coun- terrevolution at home. We held firm to our convictions despite the Watergate scandal. We defeated Soviet commu- nism and tracked down our enemies in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks. We surmounted a great recession, and we are fighting a deadly pandemic. We are now engaged in an epic de- bate—this time about our political fu- ture. It is complicated by our mass me- dia, which stress all that is bad and ig- nore all that is good about U.S. society. Why have we survived? To put it sim- ply, we are a nation favored with abun- dant natural resources, an industrious population and an unparalleled nation- al defense. Most of all, the United States is exception- al because of our God-giv- en ability to meet any chal- lenge by calling on the con- servative ideas articulated by our Founders and nour- ished by Western civiliza- tion. Those ideas, contained within the framework of a representative democra- cy, are limited constitutional govern- ment, free enterprise, individual free- dom and personal responsibility, tra- ditional American values based on our Judeo-Christian heritage and a strong national defense. When we have been guided by these ideas, we have pre- vailed, as when President Ronald Rea- gan led us out of a profound psycholog- ical depression by insisting our best days were yet to come; ignited a period of unparalleled prosperity through tax cuts and widespread deregulation and ended the Cold War at the bargaining table and not on the battlefield. Even with COVID-19 variants, persistent in- flation and racial ten- sion, the United States remains an exception- al nation blessed with institutions such as the conservative movement, the only social move- ment deeply committed to the first principles of the founding of the coun- try. As in the past, the solution to our problems lies not with the federal gov- ernment but with us. In this present political crisis, we must resolve anew to preserve and protect that most precious of our pos- sessions—ordered liberty. If we do, we will keep the republic that the Found- ers handed to us almost two-and-a-half centuries ago. Lee Edwards is a leading historian of American conservatism and the author or editor of 25 books. Race for the Cure By Star Parker Give Me a Break John Stossel Eye on the Economy By Stephen Moore Beware the popping of the housing bubble Heritage Viewpoint By Lee Edwards Is American democracy at risk? See FREEDOM on page 5 My So Called Millennial Life By Stephanie Hayes I quit the fertility clinic Editor's note: Stephanie Hayes is breaking from her traditional jovial col- umn this to discuss the sensitive topic of infertility. Some terms may be inappro- priate for younger or sensitive readers. For those who want to get preg- nant, it turns out waiting rooms are something out of a glossy sitcom. Swanky velvet seats and gold vases, HGT V bleating from screens, glee- ful success stories tacked to walls. No protesters. No shame. But reproduction is scary territo- ry and so, to me, was this. A fear of waiting rooms is only natural. I've never had an abortion. Quite the opposite. I can't seem to get preg- nant. I turn 39 next month and have been married almost five years. We've tried to conceive on some lev- el for the majority of that time. A f- ter a couple of years, I asked my OB- GYN for advice. "How old are you, again? " she said, and immediately wrote a referral to a fertility clinic. To the plush wait- ing room I went, alone thanks to COVID-19. We began tests. A transvaginal ultra- sound to examine ovaries and eggs. An X-ray to check fallo- pian tubes. A uterine injection of high-contrast iodine. Blood draws and chemical analyses and video lessons about pricey genetic test- ing. Some pain. A fter all that, the diagnosis was "unexplained infer- tility." The doctor recommended sur- gery to clear my uterus of an abun- dance of polyps. In- surance covered the procedure but not the expensive anesthesia, a mad- dening tease to the financial morass of American child- bearing. While I reclined half-awake on a recovery trolley, the doctor came in to talk about next steps. He quickly See FERTILITY on page 5

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