He had some interesting views on people who are poor, and it appeared at last week’s convention that the Republicans embrace those views.
I wrote this for The Hill.
A blog companion to the book by Susan Campbell
He had some interesting views on people who are poor, and it appeared at last week’s convention that the Republicans embrace those views.
I wrote this for The Hill.
Another big fan of Malthus was John Maynard Keynes, (the “moral” capitalist), whose fingerprints are all over our economy, especially since 2008.
But I think Keynes, unlike contemporary Republican Party intelligentsia, didn’t include Malthus’ Georgian Era class prejudices in his theories on political economy.
I don’t think Malthus would be all that happy with Republican Party notions on political economy, especially such notions that impede preventive checks on population growth, (like access to birth control), that defeat the “moral restraint” on the part of the “lower classes” necessary to keep a population at manageable levels, forestalling the need for positive checks on growth like famine, misery, plague and war.
Also, if memory serves, Malthus was in favor of food distribution…alleviating what we call food insecurity today (SNAP). It was cash subsidies that concerned him most. And I don’t think he would be all that happy with what little cash subsidy is actually given to the “lower classes” being largely diverted into the pocketbooks of politicians, their toadies, and free market cartels. There’s an inefficiency in there that, I think, would rattle Malthus’ cage.