Arthur Lewin; As America’s Riches Rise Its White Population Falls…

 

In order for America to become America, the Native American population was decimated and millions of Africans were forced here and held in bondage for centuries. As the nation matured, and the captives were released, a flood of European immigrants poured in to temporarily establish a strong white majority. However, now that America is at the pinnacle of economic, political and military power – the lone giant astride the world  stage – inexorably the white percentage of the population steadily wanes. Here is why.

 

The US, and other developed countries, have populations that are overwhelmingly middle class. Characteristically, a middle class does not reproduce itself. Middle class individuals carefully limit their offspring to conserve their wealth and maintain their lifestyle. The rich can have as  many kids as they want, and the poor are often poor, in large part, because they do not limit the size of their families.

 

Since America’s population is overwhelmingly middle class, if not for immigration, our population would shrink. The main source of new arrivals is the impoverished country we share a thousand mile border with to the south. Our economic domination of Mexico has produced a huge pool of underemployed there at the same time we badly need laborers here, thus, a classic “push” and “pull” scenario is born.

 

Note how the political game is played out against the underlying racial dynamic. The Republican party is, largely, the party of whites.The Democrats are, mainly, the multi-ethnic party. Their weakness comes from their diverse peoples and their differing agendas, their strength from their steadily increasing base of support. Republican power stems from their unitary ethnicity, their weakness, from their relentlessly shrinking base.

 

Note how Congress, despite all the posturing to the contrary, has not been able to halt the tide of Mexican migration. To do so would stop the American economy dead in its tracks. Who would take care of the children, cut the grass, do the construction and man the many thousands of small businesses that are the backbone of capitalist America?

 

Look at the abortion question through the lens that race affords. It’s one thing to have a philosophical debate over whether or not life begins at conception, and quite another to actually kill in the name of the cause. Bluntly put, since more white than Black babies are aborted each year, abortion facilitates the shrinking of the white population and this sends some right off the deep end. Also, if white women were not as liberated, that is more willing to put raising a family ahead of their careers, more white babies would be born. And so women’s lib is also an anathema to many white reactionaries.

 

The incarceration of much of the Black male population, racial discrimination in hiring, housing and higher education, the under-funding of Black and Latino schools and all the other manifestations of white privilege greatly benefit whites economically today, but dooms them demographically tomorrow. Poor, uneducated people have little motivation to limit their birth rates while those who are middle class have every incentive to do so.

 

And so that is the sad, confused tale that is America in the 21st century as played out in garish color, and convoluted sound bites, in the media today. But the real story can be told simply and in black and white. The US cannot have its cake and eat it too, for the simple fact that as America’s riches rise, its white population falls.

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Staff Writer; Arthur Lewin