Human Potential and the One-Child Policy
The potential in every human being is limitless. By suggesting that there are “too many” people in China, the government’s policy causes immeasurable psychological damage that far exceeds anything central planners can hope to gain by limiting the numbers of people they must provide for. In fact, the very notion that it is up to the government to provide for the people is itself flawed. Each individual and their network of relationships has the power to achieve far more than any government planner has ever given them credit for. Nothing could be more damaging to society than the failure to realize that illimitable value that exists within us all. On its own, the forced abortion of but one person who if given the chance of life could have generated a revolutionary, paradigm shifting idea would be enough to cancel all the hoped for benefits of the One Child Policy. Add to this the sweeping effects of a billion people adopting the pessimistic belief that more people are somehow “bad” and Chinese society can be assured that its individuals will not live up to their full potential.
While few individuals ever feel their lives to be a burden on the world, if through years of inculcation in government planning programs I gradually adopt the belief that additional people are but a drag on society, I have internalized the notion that I myself may be just another dead weight. This poisonous notion subconsciously adopted by more than a billion people is one of the most tragic events of the last few decades, stifling their resourcefulness and creativity while preventing untold millions from reaching their true potential. Moreover, by using command-and-control measures to impose population restraints from above, the government allows individuals to avoid personal responsibility for the problems generated by population. Paternalistic government policies that treat individuals as though they were mere children without the ability to make decisions about what is best for them and their family necessarily stifles resourcefulness. Treat people like children, and they may act like children.
Excessive” population presents a problem only to the state planner charged with the nearly impossible task of providing for more than a billion people. To stand any chance at succeeding in this role, he takes the easy route and decides that he must lower the denominator in the ratio of resources-to-people. Yet population control is but a means to an end, not a true end in itself. The ultimate goal of this and any other state policy is to ensure that each individual has the resources needed to succeed. However, the one-child policy ignores the fact that the application of human resourcefulness can multiply many times over the utility we receive from a given quantity of resources. Give the people the power to plan what is best for themselves and arm them with the belief in their unlimited creative potential, and no limits on resources shall ever present themselves again.
Labels: china, population
posted by Ryan Petersen @ 10:24 PM
4 Comments
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4 Comments:
I think you need to understand more of China. There is no "One-Child Policy" in the first place.
Do elaborate...
Hmm i see what you are saying, but respectfully disagree. I'm one of 6 children and often experienced the same feeling of being a 'dead-weight'. This never set me back though, it actually made me more aggressive and more determined than most of my peers. I never was a trust-fund college student, i pushed myself for success. I think the number of abandoned baby girls in china is a far greater loss than people's ability to be constructive. Also, eastern culture is a pretty meek and nationalist social structure. What one government says there may not work for a society in the west. This single-child law would probably never work in the west because we lack the 'all for one, one for all' mindset that permeates china. Keeping one child would be an act of nationalism for chinese people (even though the law no longer exists)
In my opinion, what is needed is education. This may sound very simplistic and may also sound like a "too good to be true" response. The thing is that as a race, humans throughout the world, not just China, have lived so long with excess thinking. I am from Australia and we have had a water crisis for years now and even when it does rain, there never seems to be enough water. We can't control the natural environment and how much rain we have but we can control how it is dealt with. This is the biggest flaw in human nature.
I could blame it on the governments because they are always the bad guys in most people's opinions but are they not just people like everyone else? Think about it for a moment, the lack of resources to sustain certain populations is primarily due to the excessive consumption us creatures indulge in. Is this a government issue? Perhaps they could do something but it's really something that needs to be considered by everyone.
Having said that, there has been a global shift in perception and more people are interested in conservation of our planet. Give this time and maybe people will eventually develop better solutions than limiting the number of children someone can have. As the post mentions, the one child policy is a very quick fix type solution that was devised in a state of both laziness and panic. Surely there are other options available.
There is a chance for people to become more resourceful and add more to the world rather than costing the world by being a viral consumption machine.
Back in the 60's and 70's, muscle cars were all the rage as was foam containers and many other environment destroyers. Now we drive smaller cars, our technology is smaller, everything is geared at using less energy etc. This shows that each person that is born into the world today has the opportunity to reduce our impact on our environment and resources. We are becoming less like dead weights as each generation continues. If we were to educate people in this way then there would be no need whatsoever for population control now would there?
Anyhow, that's my two cents.
Chris Lyons.
Endless Human Potential
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