do you know any liberals with lots of kids? more than 3 at least

[pstokely]

many fundies and conservatives have large families because they don't believe in birth control, I don't know any large liberal families

[Blue_Chill]

1. Dude come out from under your rock please

Conservative have a lot of kids because they like having lots of kids. I don't know where the hell people get this notion that they don't believe in birth control so they have kids because they can't help it. Ask them, they dream of breeding a entire baseball team.

Liberals seem to have the two kids. Two is enough damnit.

[pstokely]

3. why do conservatives like to have many kids?

nt

[Blue_Chill]

4. It's the only way they can hang out in a crowd

It's hard to make many friends when you're an asshole. :D

Actually I have no idea why they breed like rabits. I think it may because they view having a family as the ultimate goal in life.

[ropi]

5. hmmm...

maybe because we liberals have realized that you can have so much more fun doing other "sexual" things besides procreating. Honestly, look how the conservatives got their knickers in a knot over Bill and the Blow Job. The way that they were reacting, you would have thought that Clinton invented that too. Wait, he did! Why not blame him for showing them that there's another use for the great phallus! <joking>

[The Backlash Cometh]

12. The Death of the West

I think it was Pat Buchanan who put the fear of obsoletism into them with the notion that natural (read white) American births weren't keeping up with the number of immigrants coming into the country. (That's the real reason they're anti-abortion). At least this is as much information as I got from a right-winger before I gave him, "the look" and he disappeared.

[Nikia]

2. There were some large liberal Catholic familes

In my home area, some of the best Democrats were Catholic who until recently in my home area tended to have larger families. A good example of this nationally is the Kennedy family. I suppose that things were different back then, but I am sure that there are a few large liberal families out there.

[Fixated]

6. ....

Conservatives breed their own armies, because they can't recruit as well. Because they're fucking nuts.

[SoCalDem]

7. Ever hear of the Kennedys??

Liberal vs conservative regarding family size is not really relevant..

Financial issues probably have more to do with it.. It costs a lot of money to raise kids these days and with Mom & Dad working all the time, there is not as much time for (or to actually create) a large family..

I have heard it said that some poor people have large families because they have so little happiness in their lives, that they can actually find happiness in their children.. That probably does not last very long though, since the children can become a source of major UNhappiness as they get older and realize how poor they really are..

Large families were the norm in an agricultural society. People could not afford to hire farm help, so they "grew their own".. The farmers who came of age in the 40's & 50's succeeded too well. They sent their kids to college, and once the kiddies saw how the rest of the world lived, they had no desire to return to farming.. THEIR family size was probably way less than their parents..


Housing cost factors in as well.. There are few young families that can afford a house big enough for a truly large family, these days.. Those glorious old victorian homes that could comfortably house 3 generations and a bunch of children are no more..(unless you have a ton of money to buy one and restore it, or pay through the nose for one already restored)..

[REP]

9. Education of Women

The more education a woman has, the fewer children she has.

More and more American women are attaining higher levels of education, and are able to do something with their lives besides become broodmares. Women used to have very few choices about their lives; having and raising children was a way of filling time.

Some religious fundamentalists resist these changes, and some religious fundamentalist women see their purpose in life is to create as many children as possible.

Also, some people just like having numerous children.

[SoCalDem]

10. Yes.. That and birth control

There was actually a time (for you youngsters), when women scrutinized that calendar every month, wondering and dreading the inevitable...another baby..

[REP]

11. Not In My Family!

At least, my grandmother sure didn't think that way! She knew how to prevent 'em, and if that failed, there was the local doctor. She was born in 1896, so she wasn't one of those 20th century grandmothers!

[roguevalley]

8. most of my family have four kids each and they are liberals.

*

[Maine Mary]

13. Come to think of it,.. No.

Does this mean the fundies are trying to populate themselves into a majority? :scared:

[ikojo]

14. This is what is happening in Israel

Orthodox Jews tend to have very large families (average size of eight kids) while the more secular Jews are barely reproducing at a replacement level. The Arab population also tends to have more children than the Jewish population of Israel.

To bring it back to the US, American Jews are not reproducing at a replacement level either. I think the average Jewish birthrate is 1.x number of kids and this includes the orthodox in the US, who like their Israeli brethren, have larger families.

I think those in the extreme white right have a lot of kids to offset what THEY see as the high birthrates of various minority groups.

I come from a family of seven kids. Only two sisters had three kids and the other had only two. One brother had two boys and the other, military brother, has five children (a combo of yours mine and ours). Neither I nor my younger brother had any kids. With fewer children all of my living siblings are doing much better than my single parent mom did while she was raisng all of us.

I never understood the rationale behind having so many kids. It clearly does not make sense, fiscally or environmentally for Americans to have so many children.

[izzie]

15. My God where have you been?

I had 5 and I will not go on.

[BiggJawn]

16. Yeah, they were old hippies...

Had all their kids at home, too. Odd folks. Don't know if they were really Liberal. Hell, they acted more Amish than anything, but they had clapped-out microbusses and TV...

[scarlet_owl]

17. Don't know any liberal families with lots of kids.

Don't know any conservative families period. As somebody who is trying hard to conceive without any luck, seeing anyone with lots of kids is heartbreaking. I can't help but feel "why can they have all of those kids and I only want one". I feel so selfish for feeling that way. Sorry about all the self-pity, but I needed to vent.

[SoCalDem]

18. Keep your chin up, Scarlet.. It will happen for you

I have had friends who battled fertility problems and they all ended up successful..:):)

I feel for you, though.. It does sometimes seem that the ones who have the least patience,money, time, parenting skills seem to be the ones with the most kids..

and then there are those annoyingly fertile teenagers who think having a baby is like "playing with dolls"..

Hang in there..you'll get there :hi:

[scarlet_owl]

19. Hey, thanks

I have said it before, baby distribution is the most unfair thing in the world. Thank you for your kind and inspirational words.

[bmbmd]

20. A fellow walked up to me in the airport one day

and said "Good God, man-are all those children yours?" I assured him that they were, then he asked "Why do you have so many children?".
I answered "Because I love my wife". "Hmmm", says he. "I love my cigar, too, but I take it out every once in a while."

I have four.

[SOteric]

21. My parents, and most of our neighbours growing up

I grew up in a family of 5 children. We were Italian Catholics in a very Italian Catholic neighbourhood. And liberal. And most of us still are, - all those things.

[corarose]

22. My Aunt & Uncle had 8 kids

They all have large families and they all vote democratic.

[populistmom]

23. We have 4 children and despite all the damn stereotypes people read off

They do not represent everyone with 4 or more children.

Why do we have so many?
We have four because I started young (so I was able to and keep up, have a life still afterward, not worry about medical complications)and we both wanted our children to have each other and have extended family they could count on when they grew up. For a variety of reasons, my husband and I don't have that.

Why did I start young?
I was 19 when I moved in with my husband, then boyfriend, who is 9 years older. The night we got engaged (planning a long term engagement), I wasn't careful, and found out I was pregnant 3 weeks later. I contemplated, debated, and went through a mental crisis about what to do. Jim was wonderful, supported and mature enough to handle it and totally be there for me (he still is), so I decided to go for it. Had I not got pregnant then, I still probably would have had my first baby by 25.

As far as education, I have a degree and I'm getting a second one now. I worked part-time, but have stayed home for the past three years. My husband is in the medical field and works 3rd shift (extra money) so I can stay home. We have our needs met, but don't live extravagantly. Our oldest is a girl and the younger three are boys and the younger two mainly wear my oldest son's hand me downs (they don't care at this point). Instead of buying a bigger house, we're doing a lot of work (mostly ourselves) to the basement of our three bed, one bath house to make a 5 bed 2 bath house instead of moving to a fancier area of larger homes and being saddled with a huge mortgage payment. One of our cars is 10 years old with 150,000 miles on it. The other is 3 years old and we bought it 2 years used. Once I do work, most of the money will be able to go towards college for our children because we won't have a giant mortgage, big car payments, and other excessive material trappings.
Our oldest two children are in the 2nd and 6th grade and both have been identified as gifted and do very well. They are great kids. The littler two (5 and 2) are still definately more of works in progress.

Oh, and we believe in birth control and now hubby has the permanent form. I'm not haggy or ugly, in fact, I'm still a very young, decent looking woman. Just because someone has had a multiply functional uterus, doesn not mean they are submissive fools, nor does it mean they cease to be an intelligent, normal, and passionate individuals.
Sorry about the rant, but I have dealt with these stereotypes for almost 12 years now and I'm sick of it.
Open your minds, folks!

edited for spelling error

[KCDem]

24. one of my good friends has 5.

She's liberal, her husband is conservative. He's only the father of her last 3, however. Not that THAT matters... she's still the one who popped out 5!

I was exhausted after 2 so will probably stop. Part of me longs to have another... maybe a boy someday. But dang, kids are expensive! Scott has single, childless friends who make as much as he does; they're able to stow quite a lot away. We, on the other hand, struggle to make ends meet.

[Wickerman]

25. We have 4 and I am so liberal I'm damn near a card carrying red

My father likes to call me Vlad or Lenin, or he'll ask my wife what the Russkie is up to when he gets her on the phone. We have four kids. She has two of her own from a previous marriage - I have one, and we have an adopted daughter from the Pacific Islands. Surely DUers are not making assumptions based on stereotypes regarding family size AND famly structure???

[Karenina]

26. No, but it seems there are certain posters

who like to make an issue of it from time to time. Good ploy for a dust up and waste of bandwidth.

[Laszlo_Hollyfeld]

27. Yes I know some large liberal families.

More than a few.

I also know more than a few who are concerned about overpopulation, and minimizing their personal impact on Mother Earth.

[kwolf68]

28. Dont worry about Mother Earth

We'll put her out of her misery before we run it over with over-population.

BTW-I am left-wing...my wife is Republican but trending to the middle and we have 2 kids. She wants a 3rd kid...I dont.

However, I believe we will have a 3rd because she has been so supportive of my pursuit of my dreams involving working with endangered animals and having a 3rd kid seems to be her dream...so im torn between having too many kids and supporting a lovign wife who has supported me thru thick and thin.

Shoot...Decisons....