Conversations about politics usually focus on elections, court cases, or whatever today’s outrage happens to be. But if you zoom out far enough, those things aren’t really what decides the future.
Birthrates do.
Over the last few decades, adults in their late twenties and early thirties who identify as conservative have kept having children at roughly the same rates, while those who identify as liberal have not.
In fact, about seventy-one percent of conservative women in that age bracket are mothers, compared to only about forty percent of liberal women.
On paper, that should tell us where the culture is headed.
Those who lean conservative are going to “win” because they’re simply having more babies than those who identify as liberal. I mean, the math is simple, right? If one group is forming families and the other is not, you would expect the rising generation to look more and more like the people who are actually having children.
But that’s not what we see in our institutions, in our media, or even in many of the children raised in “conservative” homes.
So what’s going on?
Well, it turns out that the movement that places not having children as one of its “requirements” for participation is smart enough to realize that if they aren’t careful, their ideas might simply die out with them.
They learn that if their ideology isn’t being passed on biologically, it has to be passed on memetically—through schools, entertainment, youth programs, social media, and every other place where children can be reached before their parents’ values have fully taken root.
So even though non-leftists are out-breeding their ideological adversaries, they’re still losing the culture war because they’re sending their kids to be indoctrinated by their enemies during their most formative years.
To put it simply: conservatives may be having children, but the left is raising them.
Maybe not in the sense of tucking them into bed at night, but certainly in the ways that most strongly shape how a child comes to see himself and the world.
Think about where the average child spends the bulk of his waking hours and who controls those environments. In most cases, it isn’t mom and dad.
It’s a school system where parents are increasingly treated as obstacles rather than the final authority.
It’s media that reliably casts parents as narrow-minded and oppressive and teachers, coaches, or institutions as moral liberators.
It’s online spaces designed to bypass parental involvement altogether.
It’s professionals who are told they must “affirm” whatever a confused teenager says in the moment, while keeping parents in the dark.
None of this is an accident.
After all, if your ideas can’t sustain themselves by encouraging people to form strong families and raise children of their own, then your only viable strategy is to gain access to other people’s children as early, as often, and as deeply as possible. You need the schools. You need the screens. You need the youth programs.
You need time and attention that used to belong primarily to families.
Meanwhile, a lot of good, conscientious parents who still believe in marriage, motherhood, fatherhood, responsibility, faith, and tradition tell themselves that so long as they squeeze in a few “good talks” at home, it will balance out whatever is happening during the rest of the week.
But formation doesn’t work that way.
Children are not just hearing arguments and counterarguments; they are absorbing what the adults around them treat as obvious, normal, and unquestionable. If those cues mostly come from people whose values are hostile to their own, parents should not be surprised when the child they fed, clothed, and loved for eighteen years steps into adulthood sounding more like the people who had his mind for eight to twelve hours a day his whole life (because let’s not forget about after school programs, sports, clubs, and homework) than the parents who had him for whatever time was left over.
This is the uncomfortable reality we are currently living.
Yes, the birthrate is catastrophically low, but on top of that, the people who are having children are allowing those who hate them to become the primary shapers of their children’s beliefs, priorities, loyalties, and worldview.
So what’s the solution? Well, it’s definitely not to retreat from the world or to raise kids in a bunker.
The solution is for parents to reclaim, deliberately and confidently, the job that always belonged to them: to form their children’s minds and character on purpose, instead of hoping that a little bit of “home” can overcome a constant stream of contrary messaging.
That’s what we’re trying to support with our Year-of-Growth bundles this year. We’ve created a set of tools for parents who want to be the ones actually raising their kids and shaping who they become.
Teen Starter ($195)
A broad foundation of big ideas for young adults who are starting to think for themselves and ask serious questions about how the world works.
Teen Accelerator ($479) (most popular)
Everything in the Starter, plus lifetime access to the Tuttle Twins Academy and additional projects and challenges for teens ready to take more responsibility for their learning and their lives.
Kids Bundle ($286) (biggest savings)
A comprehensive lineup for younger children that combines stories, activities, character formation, and history in a way that respects their intelligence and helps them believe they can do big, important things.
History Set ($128)
An honest look at America’s past that emphasizes choices, incentives, and consequences instead of slogans and half-truths.
(You can even compare all four options and choose the path that best fits your family!)
The long-term trend lines may show who is having children, but how those kids turn out remains to be determined. That part is still up to parents who are willing to take their roles seriously as the primary teachers of the most important lessons.
Our side is bringing children into the world.
Let’s make sure we’re also the ones forming who they become.
— Connor
