"When Irish Eyes are Smiling" is an Irish tribute
song written in the 1940s. Its opening line goes, "There's a
tear in your eye, and I'm wondering why, for it never should be there at
all." Are any tears being shed in Ireland these
days? If so, why?
Last
week, Irish voters cast
their ballots to repeal one of the most restrictive abortion laws in
the world, passing their measure by a two-to-one margin. This is
perhaps not all that surprising, since in the past three years, Ireland
installed a gay prime minister and voted to redefine marriage to include
same-sex couples.
Progressive
eyes are smiling in Ireland, grinning ear to ear, as they become San Francisco
or Seattle. The unborn, however, now face a suction tube or a
curette. Four-D ultrasound technology shows unborn babies
smiling as early
as 26 weeks, blissfully unaware of the perils now awaiting some of
them in Ireland.
Irish
citizens too might be blissfully unaware of the perils that await their country
in the generations ahead, given the hard laws of demographics.
Demographics
teaches that in order to sustain a population, the birth rate must exceed the
death rate, leading to a net gain in population. Since not all
children reach adulthood and not all adults reproduce, a society or country
needs each adult couple to produce slightly more than two children – two to
replace the adults and a fraction to replace those who cannot or do not
reproduce for whatever reason.
This replacement
rate number is 2.1 – each couple needs to have, on average, 2.1
children to create a stable population. A higher rate leads to a
growing population, while a lower number indicates a shrinking
population. Many
other countries are also in decline, with a fertility rate below the
replacement rate – Italy, Germany, and Spain around 1.3.
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Ireland's
recent referendum works against the laws of demographics. Same-sex
couples cannot reproduce based on biology. Sure, they can adopt or
hire surrogates, but every same-sex couple takes two opposite-sex couples out
of the pool for potential reproduction. Similarly, abortion
eliminates the product of reproduction at an early stage, killing babies who
will never grow into adults, potentially having children of their own.
Ireland
currently has a fertility, or replacement, rate of 1.9, less than the population-sustaining
level, meaning a population in slow decline. That's the native Irish
population. What about immigrants to Ireland? Who,
specifically?
In
neighboring England, a chap named Tommy
Robinson was arrested over his "anti-Muslim" activities,
specifically for standing outside a court building filming and reporting on
trials of radical Muslims involved in gang rape and grooming young girls for
sexual assault. It's his reporting on the latter trial that violated
a previous probation order, landing him in a British jail.
This
has nothing to do with the Irish ballot referendum, except to point out that
much of Europe is experiencing a wave of immigration of people from religions
and cultural backgrounds that differ from the native populations of the
countries they are immigrating to.
According
to the Pew
Research Center, Ireland is 1.4 percent Muslim, a smaller percentage than
the U.K. at 6.3 percent. The Muslim fertility rate is 2.6, higher
than Ireland and a full point higher than the E.U. average at 1.6.
In
addition, Islamic law doesn't permit abortion or diverge from the longstanding
definition of marriage. Islamic
abortion law is quite restrictive. In cases of danger to
the life of the mother, abortion is allowed, but only "[b]efore the time
when the soul has been infused into the body." The soul is
believed to be in the body when "[t]he fetus starts to move inside the
womb," called quickening,
which can occur between 13 and 25 weeks into pregnancy.
While
Ireland currently has a small Muslim population, conditions are ripe for this
population to grow. The native Irish population, already reproducing
below the replacement rate, has legalized two activities that will further
reduce population growth: abortion and the redefinition of marriage.
An
immigrant population, already reproducing at a rate guaranteeing a rapidly
growing population, has no such constraints, as its laws and culture forbid
abortion and restrict marriage to its natural bounds.
Despite
one's political view on social issues, demographics doesn't care about
diversity, tolerance, or virtue-signaling – just as a wind turbine, producing
green sustainable energy, cares not a whit about animal rights, PETA, and the
birds it chops up with its spinning propeller.
The
trend is apparent in other neighboring countries – Belgium,
for example. While Belgium's Muslim population is just over 6
percent, it is a breeding ground for jihad.
Liberal
ideas seem full of virtue and compassion, and in the short term, they sound
noble. Long-term, however, they lead to despair and
destruction. Whether raising the minimum wage or providing
"free" health care, such programs always end up damaging those they
are designed to help – just as the wind farms destroy an important component of
the same ecosystem they are trying to protect.
Ireland
may be the next country on the list to face a demographic reckoning of its own
creation, and one its people won't like. Then Irish eyes won't be
smiling.
Brian C Joondeph, M.D., MPS is a Denver-based physician and
writer. Follow him on Facebook, LinkedIn,
and Twitter.
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2018/06/ireland_opens_the_door_to_demographic_disaster.html