In 1968, a Stanford University professor wrote a book entitled “The Population Bomb,” which predicted that as early as the 1970s, millions would starve to death and, not only that, it was “too late to do anything about it.” Dr. Paul Ehrlich said that “in the 1970s hundreds of millions of people will starve to death in spite of any crash programs embarked upon now. At this late date nothing can prevent a substantial increase in the world death rate.” He predicted 4 billion deaths, including 65 million Americans. Well, we all know that didn’t happen.

The fact that nearly all of Dr. Ehrlich’s predictions were spectacularly wrong — he also said, “by the year 2000, the UK will be a small group of impoverished islands, inhabited by 70 million hungry people” — doesn’t stop present-day alarmists from advancing solutions to a problem that doesn't exist. Lee Miller continues the hysteria in his July 15 column, “This needs your attention: Population awareness.”

Miller opines, "the population problem gets little media coverage…(even) when it is the most consequential … and serious problem facing humanity, despite some deniers.” Since, he says, “it is only a matter of time before civilization will be in a severe food crisis,” we need to sharply curtail family size through U.S.-funded contraception (for the entire world, no less). The mere fact the amount of food per capita has increased 25 percent since Ehrlich’s dire prediction, thereby reducing poverty, should get thinking people questioning the logic here.

It is true many people are starving throughout the world, but it’s not because the world doesn’t produce enough food; it’s the failure of government to distribute food equitably. Civil unrest and lack of coherent government policy in many countries further prevents citizens from feeding themselves. Oxfam, an international humanitarian organization has this figured out: they state simply, “Famines are not natural phenomena, they are catastrophic political failures.”

When the “overpopulation” discussion comes up, why don’t responsible people ask, “according to whom? Who defines ‘overpopulation?’” The entire population of the world — all 7 billion of us — could fit into the 268,597 square miles of Texas with the same density as that of the folks living in New York City right now. Clearly, the world is “overpopulated” only to groups advocating for strangulating environmental regulation and for contraception, abortion and other anti-family schemes.

The real problem in developed countries is underpopulation. The overpopulation crowd are not preaching their gospel to the British, French, Germans and Japanese because they’d be run out of town. Why? Because those countries finally have come to the realization they are not having enough babies to replace their populations. By the way, Miller writes that it's “good news” for developed countries not to replace themselves because they’re “high consumers of energy and resources.” By what reasoning is it “good news” for a country to obliterate its national identity?

The French have given the Ehrlich/Miller plan a try, concluded it’s very bad news indeed, and have taken the opposite path. The government now taxes families less the more children they have and pays a monthly allowance of about $210 for families with three children. The “large family” (two children) receives 30 percent discounts on the metro, train and other modes of transportation. There are all kinds of other incentives, but you get the picture: they’re encouraging large families because the small or no family idea has nearly destroyed their country.

Those developed nations would gladly advise the alarmists that for many years, with declining and aging populations, they’ve had to depend on immigrants — many of whom do not share their values or ideals — to fortify their shrinking workforces. It is entirely predictable, then, that Western Europe would struggle with destructive social upheaval.

The point is this: those folks shrieking “overpopulation” are not interested in helping us commoners (read “deniers”) out at all. Their main goal is advancing the age-old leftist/progressive/Marxist ideology which has as it’s final end, government control over every aspect of our lives. If we haven’t learned this from the last eight years, we’ve learned nothing at all.

John B. Hymes is a retired Stockton firefighter.