Initially, I decided not to have children because I did not feel financially secure enough to raise children in America. My choice had nothing to do with the direction in which leaders were taking the country.
While the reasons I've chosen NOT to bring children into the world however have evolved over the years, the basis for all of my reasons have one common denominator. Once my financial concerns were resolved, I began noticing far too many trends in America to believe this country cared about its citizens.
As the economic policies of American leaders guaranteed the failure of more and more people, the financial security I felt I had gained waned. While attempting to build a future in which I could provide for a family, I watched as certain unethical, immoral and quite frankly illegal financial practices went from the schemes of gangsters and scammers to just another Tuesday for banks and other businesses. Banks now literally get caught robbing customers over and over again, but few if any go to jail for the crimes they commit. Businesses like Walmart have been documented taking out life insurance policies on their sick employees. Credit card companies charge interest rates that were at one time considered usary... Look up the definition. Over five million homes were allowed to fall into arrears and go into default or foreclosure while the same banks that causes the housing crash were bailed out by America's taxpayers. The economic fallout from the actions of greedy bankers and other bad actors destabilized the United States of America for decades and it forecast looks no better. Housing has gone from a promising way with which to build wealth to one of the quickest ways to lose all of your savings. With insurance rates and property taxes doubling and tripling from year to year, new homeowners are becoming former homeowners. And, when inflation rates increasing exponentially, holding onto an investment that takes thirty years to appreciate no longer sounds promising. For that matter, few if any of the assets Americans could hold sound promising when inflation constantly outpaces the return on invest. The valuations of companies in the stock market are such mysteries that even those with insider knowledge have doubts. Truth be told, the only guaranteed way to make money in stocks is to write bills that impact a particular company's stock and buy or sell that stock before those bills become law. You know, the way most of those in Congress buy or sell stocks before the bills they vote on get passed into law. This, the ultimate insider trading (which is illegal for everyone outside of Congress) is so predictable that there are websites that track these trades as a means to help others trade more effectively. Don't believe, click here
So, I began to question America's ability to pick leaders with the one quality that should supercede all other qualities... The desire to lead those who follow in a manner that benefits a plurality, if not a majority of those who follow. And, worse still, I began to question whether the American voter even knew what their own best interests were. My doubts stemmed from the fact that the same terrible leaders were winning reelection term after term, decades after decades. I looked at leaders like Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell who have both been in Washington DC since the 1980s and realized that life has been on the decline in America since the 1980s. Maybe it wasn't Pelosi's or McConnell's fault but why tempt fate by reflecting them for the next forty years?
After paying attention to the lack of true leadership I. America, I began to ask what I deemed logical questions. Questions like the following:
"When banks cause the financial collapse of the richest nation ever to exist on Earth there seems to be a problem that needs to be addressed, so why isn't it being addressed?"
"When the one entity (the Government) that could address the issues with banks and ignores historical evidence (Glass-Stegall) of policies/laws kept the American economy stable for the past five decades (50 years), why don't leaders realize that something is wrong?"
While laws like Glass-Stegall may not have been the panacea to all of America's economic woes, it was a proven solution that could have, at the very least, served as a intermediate and immediate fix.
So, with policies and the lack of laws or the enforcement of laws reinforcing trends that cause great harm to the American way of life and it's reputation around the Globe, having children lost all appeal to me.
And, even if we set aside the issues I saw in the economy, there are still other choices American leaders have made for decades that made me choosing to have children prohibitive. Well before America's fruitless wars in Afghanistan and Iraq (post 9/11) the United States interfered in the affairs of other sovereign nations to the detriment of those nations. Though America has not been attacked on its own soil, since Pear Harbor, it's military has intervened across the Globe. Whether for humanitarian reasons that never seem to help the humans they're intended to help or to spread the freedom of Democracy through force (an oxymoron), America has let its presence and will be known in every corner. America's leaders have been so ready to send other people's children off to fight in other people's countries, it's as if they don't care about the loss of American lives at all. This couldn't be further from the truth though... Could it? Afterall, American leaders have addressed all of the issues impacting their own constituents so there are no problems here back home... Right? America has conquered homelessness or homelessnesslessness (From Miksons RAD dictionary: When a homeless person or family gets kicked out of the tent city or outdoor community they moved into after being evicted).
So, no, I didn't feel the need to provide more cannon fodder for America's military industrial complex in the form of my offspring. While not judging others, I felt and still feel that fathering a child in America would have been a completely selfish act, especially if that child could mature to military fighting age. And, given the recent news that Russia intends to commence tactical nuclear drills in response to Western posturing in regards to Ukraine, I am at once saddened not to have sired any offspring but grateful not to have selective service looming over my hypothetical children's heads. With the Biden administration's aggressive policies of sanctions and military threats against so many nuclear super powers, who knows what incident will serve as the catalyst for world war three. No one could know this for certain, but one can speculate that something will trigger the next great war with a much higher probability than could be mustered just three plus years ago. The irony of police across the United States being used to break up protests against a war that America leaders support would be funny if the end result didn't mean the deaths of so many And, what makes these police actions so hard to believe is that every time you hear about police breaking up violent protests, the videos used for such reports almost always shows the police pepper spraying and attacking protesters. Side note, the use of chemical weapons likes pepper spray is illegal against foreign combatants but not illegal against your own citizens... At least in America.
There are simply too many vectors that will likely lead to America's downfall for me to truly regret not having kids. Sorrow about the necessity for such a choice however is another matter altogether.
In 2018, I wrote a book highlighting the problems Humanity would face if more power, wealth, and control was funneled to a small group of elite individuals, groups, or organizations. In my book, I provided solutions (from myself and others) to the inevitable problems and also a means for the Public to analyze, compare, and contrast the words and deeds of those we choose to follow against reality. In my book Solutions: Enough complaining. Let's fix America.
In "Solutions...", I provide the means for readers to disseminate information as provided by their news sources of choice, their elected officials, and any other authority they choose to follow. The book also offers a means to hold their leaders up, not just to a higher standard than is currently accepted but to one that would improve their lives and the lives of those for whom they care.
