Sunday, October 15, 2006
300 MILLION
The Springfield, Missouri, News-Leader despairs over American growth:
America’s population is reaching a huge milestone next week. According to the Census Bureau, sometime Tuesday morning, the 300 millionth American will be born.
And what will the nation do?
Stick our heads in the sand and hope nobody notices.
That’s a far cry from 1967 when the nation celebrated its 200 millionth resident with fanfare.
This number is more depressing, frankly. We’ve added 100 million new residents without much thought toward the future. Many of them are immigrants of some form or another ...
And then there’s the matter of our own reckless growth.
What does 300 million mean to global warming? What does it mean to the future of our environment? The fact is, we should pause and wonder about the 300 million number and begin a serious debate about the direction of our country.
That “depressing number” of additions to the US population since 1967 will include many staffers at the Springfield News-Leader. I wonder how they feel, knowing their reckless growth depresses whoever wrote that editorial. Please celebrate 300 Million Tuesday by sending family photographs, to be posted on the day. Email address is at left.