The Return of Natalism? By Mrs Abigail Knight (Florida)

With all the advanced industrial nations of the world, both West and East Asia now experiencing a birth dearth, a cash of births below replacement levels, there has been considerable concern about what to do. The short-term answer has always been importing people via immigration. But as noted in 2017 by Representative Steve King (R-IA): "You cannot rebuild your civilization with somebody else's babies. You've got to keep your birth rate up, and that you need to teach your children your values." Vice president Vance has said: "Our society has failed to recognize the obligation that one generation has to another is a core part of living in a society to begin with. So let me say, very simply, I want more babies in the United States of America. … We need a culture that celebrates life at all stages, one that recognizes and truly believes that the benchmark of national success is not a GDP number or our stock market, but whether people feel that they can raise thriving and healthy families, in our country."

Elon Musk, who is doing great work with DOGE in cutting out government waste and corruption, has said that a population collapse due to low birth rate is "a much bigger risk to civilization than global warming." So, what is the strategy of the Trump administration to increase the fertility rate? An article

https://www.aporiamagazine.com/p/a-second-american-baby-boom

has summarised some of the policies which are likely to be implemented, since Trump as well believes that America retaining a high fertility gives it the possibility of a second American century, where Mars is colonised. That requires more people. Some of the policies are:

Cheaper housing (hello YIMBY and deregulation).

Higher wages (hello protectionism and immigration restriction).

Shorter educational pathways (e.g., stop subsidizing university education, develop skills testing as an alternative to credentials).

Enabling religious subcultures and stay-at-home lifestyles for those who want them.

Promoting a culture valuing children, which seems to be the secret sauce in Israel.

Reimbursement of in vitro fertilization (IVF), as in Israel, where such techno-natalism enables over 6% of births and helps weed out genetic diseases.

The above is a pragmatic mixture that has conservative elements, as well as things to appeal to more liberal types, such as IVF technology, which Trump supports. I personally have my doubts about the last one, but we are stuck with a pluralist society for the foreseeable future, as well as rising infertility problems. Whether the above would work, when policies adopted by other countries such as South Korea have failed will be interesting to see. If there are positive results it will show the way for other countries to follow such as Australia.