There's little need to become an interplanetary country if we can't populate the country we already have.
President Donald Trump's inaugural address didn't just include an amazing list of things he wants to do. It cast an aspirational vision for Americans to rally around.
"The United States will once again consider itself a growing nation," he said. "And we will pursue our manifest destiny into the stars, launching American astronauts to plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars."
That would be incredible. Given all that Elon Musk and SpaceX have done, it even seems possible. From the start, Americans have been exploring, pushing boundaries and creating new settlements. Instead of apologizing for the things that made America great, Trump is embracing them. Trump is proud to be an American, and he wants you to be, too.
But making America -- and Mars -- great again requires something else. More babies.
Last April, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that America's fertility rate had dropped to a "historic low." The total fertility rate was 1,616.5 births per 1,000 women. The country needs 2,100 births per 1,000 women to maintain its population. America's fertility rate "has generally been below replacement since 1971 and consistently below replacement since 2007," a CDC report stated.
A shrinking population presents major challenges. Even with technological advantages, the country needs young adults to serve in the military. Some of tomorrow's greatest innovators aren't being born. As people age, they become more dependent on others and less economically productive. The country's massive national debt and unfunded pension obligations will exacerbate this demographic problem.
The human cost will be brutal, too. Even though parenting can be exhausting, children bring meaning and purpose. Many will miss out on the chance to become grandparents. Each year, tens of thousands of people die without someone to claim the body. If births keep falling, that number will only increase.
Legal immigration can paper over some of these economic problems. But it isn't a cure-all. Assimilation doesn't happen when immigrants arrive in such numbers that they overwhelm the melting pot.
Low fertility is often seen as primarily a financial issue. But the data doesn't show that. High-income households have a lower birth rate than lower-income households. Also, the U.S. is the richest country in the history of the world. If wealth resulted in more children, this wouldn't be an issue.
Fundamentally, the problem is cultural. Our society urges young people to prioritize their careers over forming families. It tells young women to dream about being "girl bosses," not stay-at-home moms. A major argument for abortion is that women will be hurt financially if they can't slaughter their unborn children. Religious women have more children, but an increasing number of women are nonreligious.
Another factor is that more people aren't getting married. Nearly half of women who have never married by their early 40s have not had children. Among married women, it's 9%. But even couples that do tie the knot are waiting until their early 30s on average, giving them fewer fertile years together.
Reversing these trends would improve birth rates. There's no magic button here, but culture can change rapidly. Look at how quickly DEI is fading in the private sector as Trump roots out racial discrimination in the federal government.
Trump should use his marketing genius to give social status to moms, especially those with four or more children. Send them a medal or give them special parking privileges. Anything to signal to them that society sees motherhood as uniquely valuable and worth aspiring to.
Trump should also directly encourage his younger, married supporters to have one more child than they were planning to.
Who knows? That baby could grow up to be the one who plants the American flag on Mars.
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