JD Vance has been fond of using the derogatory term, childless cat ladies to describe a certain type of woman. And he’s included Kamala Harris in this category. The term is pointlessly insulting and a gross overgeneralization. But that shouldn’t stop us from talking about the topic.
Let’s begin with why Vance’s remarks are inept. And then we’ll talk about why the broader matter of childlessness is important. First, Vance, like me, is a Catholic. He understands that not everyone is called to marriage and parenthood. Some don’t have the disposition, some have a life’s calling that is so consuming that it doesn’t allow for children. In the church, we celebrate our priests, brothers, nuns, and other vocations as noble undertakings, so we should not overgeneralize and condemn the choice of childlessness. Second, people who want a family of their own often end up without one, thanks to misfortune. unchosen childlessness has been on the rise for decades in the US and other Western nations. This is central to America’s baby bust, our low and falling birth rates. Educational inflation is a real problem. And Gone are the factory jobs of old that allowed a high school graduate to become a breadwinner. As a result, young adults spend their entire 20s in school, racking up debt instead of wealth. And thus, they don’t even try to start a family until their 30s. At that point, it’s easy for a woman to accidentally miss her fertile window. Also, our dating culture is broken by apps and by the hyper individualistic transactional mindset that dominates our day. The collapsing community connection makes things harder by taking away a support structure for meeting marrying and staying married. So the child list should not be denigrated. But Vance is correct, that widespread and growing childlessness is a problem. First, Vance uses the term childless cat ladies to warn of a ruling class where the childless are over represented. If the people making and executing our laws shaping our cities and planning our futures do not have in mind, parents and children. They will create a world unresponsive to parents needs no room for strollers, a tax code that doesn’t treat children as humans on walkable neighborhoods built for cars rather than kids. Also, the growth of childlessness reflects a failure of our culture to foster camaraderie, solidarity and meaning. The causes of our baby busts include the collapse of community, waning social trust, spreading isolation, and increased rejection of the idea of lifelong monogamous marriage. These trends are all harmful even aside from their effects on birth rates. Finally, a world with fewer children and fewer parents is a sadder world. Children give us hope for and concern about the future. This is true of our own children and other people’s children.
As fewer Americans have kids, more Americans go through their week without meaningful contact with children. This becomes a more self centered world with less hope, and less concern for the future.
Every society has and frankly needs adults who never become parents. But when that portion is growing, we should ask what we’re doing wrong