Tuesday, May 9, 2017

Three Leaders, No Children

Emmanuel Macron is the president-elect of France, and is childless. Lauren Collins writes in The New Yorker something absolutely stunning which will be true about the leadership of Europe's three major powers, following Macron's inauguration:
The leaders of France, Germany, and the U.K. will have zero biological children among them.
Europeans aren't having many children in the 21st century. Japan has caught the same 'disease.' Donald Trump, by contrast, has five children.

People have wondered how the French could elect Macron. He's a candidate who basically didn't talk about the repeated Islamic terrorism France has suffered.

Not having children means not having to worry about a future beyond one's own lifespan. As President de Gaulle famously said: "Apres moi, le deluge." Translation: After my death, the future is someone else's problem ... and almost certainly a disaster of epic proportions. De Gaulle was prescient.