Tens of thousands protested in Milan Saturday, demanding legal recognition for gay unions and the right to abortion, two days after Pope Benedict condemned homosexual marriage and the use of the abortion pill.
The Italian Government has levied a Porn Tax recently.
What links these two actions? Evidently, it’s the desire of politicians to entice folks to make babies.
Italy has one of the lowest birthrates in the world. The porn tax, it is argued, would pay for babysitters—outlawing abortion would force women to give birth to their unwanted offspring.
‘These protests have absolutely sickened me,’ Reforms Minister Roberto Calderoli, a member of the populist, right-wing Northern League party said.
‘These filthy things have made absurd claims for privileges on the basis of unproductive sex …. These are out of place and revolting.’
‘Without children, Italy will die,’ (Culture Minister Rocco) Buttiglione said.
Western societies have already abandoned the idea of shared responsibility for the education of children. Parental costs associated with education have skyrocketed in the last 20 years, and have shown no signs of abating. Is it enough to offer free babysitting, paid for by habitual masturbators with deep pockets? I’m doubtful.
Children-as economic entities-are not as useful to the family as they once were in Western societies. In second and third world countries, giving birth to several male children is looked upon as a form of Social Security, a necessity in places that have no such programs. A few generations ago a child could be sent off to work at a young age to benefit a family in need. No longer.
When will governments and religions realize that the costs associated with raising children are rising much faster than family income? When will they realize that good people have abandoned the idea of having children because they simply can’t afford them? When will they invest some money in the future by recognizing education as a social benefit rather than a privilege of wealth?
It’s odd talking about the value of children. It seems smarmy, cold. Still, when an entire country stops having children, seemingly all at once, its not likely to be because folks have all decided, without forethought, to become immoral hedonists.
Perhaps it’s just that value and values go hand in hand.