On prudence, frugality and celibacy

The part which has been affected by the reasonings of this work is not therefore that which relates to our conduct during the period of celibacy, but to the duty of extending this period till we have a prospect of being able to maintain our children. And it is by no means visionary to indulge a hope of some favourable change in this respect; because it is found by experience that the prevalence of this kind of prudential restraint is extremely different in different countries, and in the same countries at different periods.
Thomas Malthus

In a system of private property, those parents who exercise the prudential restraint Malthus recommends, having only the number of children for which a happy life can be reasonably assured, will provide a happy life to their children. And these children, following the example of their parents, will in turn provide a happy life to their children. Families that exercise diligence in their work, thrift in their expenditures, and restraint in their reproduction will, in time, become wealthy and prosperous.

The problem, however, is that the diligence, thrift and restraint required for prosperity are far from universal. And it is impossible for a kind hearted child to see the impoverished children of less responsible parents without feeling pity and sympathy. Our children can’t be happy if they must cultivate a hard-hearted indifference to the less fortunate. Diligence, thrift and restraint are therefore not sufficient to the happiness of our own children unless they are practiced by all. The wisdom which allows some families to prosper must be advertised to the world.

But in fact what we find advertised to the world is precisely the opposite. Each producer tries to persuade consumers to buy his product. Although each one of these attempts in isolation is innocent enough, their collective effect is to drown out the wisdom that must be passed from one generation to secure the happiness of the next. Messages of diligence are drowned out by a perpetual stream of entertainments. Messages of thrift are drowned out by relentlessly repeated cries of “consume, consume.” Message of restraint are rarely heard, and one suspects this may be because the same enterprises intent on selling their products are intent on having cheap labor to produce them.

By spending money on luxuries today rather than saving for the future, we are compromising the happiness of our children. By watching Elmo instead of Hamlet, we are compromising the intellectual development of our children. I hope I am wrong, but I cannot help but think that we have condemned the next generation to unhappiness and ignorance, and at this point there is nothing we can do. Just as in the atmosphere, where enough carbon dioxide has already been pumped into the air to bake the planet, so also in the intellectual atmosphere we have passed the tipping point, and there is no going back. The destructive policies of this generation have sealed the fate of the next. At every step on our irresponsible path we glibly assured ourselves “everything’s going to be fine,” and at the same time refused to practice and teach the virtues that would, in fact, have made it fine.