Large-scale changes that radically alter the very way of life of modern civilization are often used as an argument against conservatism and traditional norms in general. But let’s look at this closely and try to answer the question: who should be concerned, conservatives or adherents of the “progressive and unconventional”?
Let’s turn to the absolutely mainstream work “The Fourth Industrial Revolution” by Klaus Schwab, President of the World Economic Forum in Davos. It is important that the author is an iconic representative of the globalist elite with pronounced leftist sympathies. From a conservative point of view, this is a rather unpleasant and even dangerous character. But his conclusions about the socio-economic realities of the modern world are all the more valuable because they are not conditioned by his sympathies, but are a forced statement of objective facts.
The problem of population aging
When people talk about the demographic problem, they usually focus on the population. But the worst thing about the demographic crisis is not the quantitative decline in the population, but the change in its age structure due to aging. Nations do not diminish in number to the last of their representatives, they die much earlier due to aging.
Here is what Schwab writes about the purely economic aspect of the demographic crisis:
“Aging is an economic problem because without a sharp increase in the retirement age that brings older members of society back into the labor force (a necessity that has many economic benefits), the working-age population will decline at the same time as the number of non-working elderly people grows. As the population ages and the number of younger people declines, the number of purchases of expensive goods such as houses, furniture, cars, and appliances decreases. In addition, fewer people will be willing to take entrepreneurial risks, as aging workers prefer to preserve their savings, which they may need to ensure a comfortable retirement, rather than start new commercial ventures.”
Thus, we see that aging leads not only to an inadequate number of pensioners, but also to much worse economic consequences. Reduced consumption, on which the modern economy critically depends. Decrease in the number of small and medium-sized entrepreneurs. Slowdown in the pace of technological development as the impact of the above-mentioned small business projects on it is growing. We should not forget about the decline in the number of young people involved in the scientific field, where, among other things, the psychological traits inherent in young people are important (as well as in the entrepreneurial sphere).
Low birth rates mean an aging population, and aging population means economic stagnation and technological decline. Conservatives have an answer to this – support for a strong traditional family focused on the birth and upbringing of children. How the promotion of abortion, support for LGBT people, and other “progressive initiatives” can contribute to solving the problem is, so to speak, a rhetorical question.
This example of the importance of positive demographics in the era of transition to a completely new type of economic and technological order is a vivid example of how conservatism is quite ready for the realities of the third millennium, while leftist ideologies are simply unable to offer anything due to their very utopian and destructive nature.