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THE WASHINGTON TIMES

EDITORIAL
The Gore population problem


So, Mr. Gore would like, in the words of Rep. Christopher Smith, to "push violence against babies to advance a theory to cure greenhouse gas problems."
The notion that the world would be a much better place if all the tacky poor people in it would simply control their reproductive urges is hardly new. It has long been accepted wisdom among social elites. And while no one could deny that Vice President Al Gore is -- by birth, upbringing and lifestyle -- a full fledged member of the American aristocracy, it was still strange to hear just how blunt Mr. Gore is prepared to be on the subject of what to do to get rid of extra people.

Mr. Gore, delivering his environmental wisdom to 100 TV weathermen summoned to the White House to hear it, advanced the theory that overpopulation among the less developed nations of the world must be stamped out in order to stem global warming. He warned his audience that overpopulation is one of the chief culprits of ominous changes in the world's climate that he's been agonizing over for years. He applauded his boss, Bill Clinton (and, of course, by extension, himself) for making one of his first presidential acts in 1993 the overturning of previous policy refusing U.S. funding for family-planning groups that promote abortion in underdeveloped countries of Africa, Asia and Latin America. The vice president suggested that those overpopulated places take a leaf from industrialized nations like ours, where population levels have been brought below the danger point by birth control and abortion.

"We're actually beginning to experience some good news around the world with the beginnings of a stabilization in world population," Mr. Gore intoned with his usual deadly earnestness. "But the momentum in the demographic system is such that we're inevitably going to go to 8 or 9 billion. The question is whether these changes [in reproductive habits] will keep us from going to 10, 12, 14 billion."

So Mr. Gore would like, in the words of Rep. Christopher Smith, to "push violence against babies to advance a theory to cure greenhouse gas problems." Would it be rude to note that what with his own brood of four, Mr. Gore himself has hardly done his part for zero population growth -- especially given the norms for his age, nationality and social status? Why, one wonders, hasn't it occurred to him that the unwashed masses he's so eager to deplete have their own religious, cultural and economic reasons for making the choices they do, just as he had his reasons? And that their reasons deserve every bit as much respect from Mr. Gore as he no doubt accords himself?



Copyright 1997 News World Communications, Inc.
Reprinted with permission The Washingon Times.
No further republication without permission.



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