Barry Smitherman recently leapt off the political springboard that is the Texas Railroad Commission and dove into the attorney general's race. Heretofore, he has focused his campaign primarily on extolling the virtues of hydraulic fracturing, firearms and suing the Obama administration.

Yet Smitherman isn't just another Greg Abbott wannabe mindlessly mashing hot-button conservative issues. He also happens to be an expert on human reproduction, macroeconomic policy and the intersection -- nay, the complete overlap -- of the two. He proved this last week in a speech before the Texas Alliance for Life.

Smitherman's full remarks are available on his campaign website, but there are a few passages that bear highlighting:

America > China

Today in China, despite what you might hear of its economic progress and dynamism, the country faces a looming demographic calamity. Called the 4-2-1 Problem, there is often one child who, as a young adult, is increasingly responsible for the care of two parents and sometimes four grandparents. In addition, this only child, when he/she was young, is often referred to as "the little emperor." Spoiled beyond belief by his parents, and with no siblings to share toys, food or clothing, these children have developed, according to one Chinese source, "social problems and personality disorders, are over indulged, lack self discipline, and have little to no adaptive capabilities."... It is always comforting to know that here in America; we are more enlightened than the Chinese.

The Real Cost of Abortion:

[T]he travesty of Abortion isn't just the 55 million children that have been aborted, its those 55 million, plus the 27.5 million children who weren't conceived because their parents themselves weren't born. I know this sounds somewhat metaphysical, but abortion has cost our country at least 82.5 million people. That's about 27% of our total population (82.5 divided by 310 million), which we will never recover. At a time when our federal debt is almost $17 trillion, having another 82.5 million people, hitting their stride in the work force, would help to reduce our per capita debt obligations, but most likely would also produce meaningful additional GDP to propel our economy and I bet they would vote Republican.

See also: Dan Branch, Tacking Right for the AG's Race, Asks San Antonio to Drop Proposed LGBT Protections

The 10 Plagues, Part II:

It should come as no surprise that "Life" is the first of these inalienable rights [enumerated in the Declaration of Independence]. The founding fathers were men of God and recognized that nothing matters if one has no life. In drafting both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, I'm sure they looked to scripture ... Examples of where man frustrated God's plan that you should prosper, have hope and a future, usually end up badly. Exodus 1:22, "So Pharaoh commanded all his people saying, 'Every son who is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive.'" Moses lived but thousands of Hebrew baby boys died. But that's not where the story ends -- Moses eventually returns to Egypt, tells Pharaoh to "let my people go," and 10 plagues are visited upon the Egyptians -- the last being the death of all the firstborn Egyptians, including the son of Pharaoh. Does history change in thousands of years -- not much. Take the Chinese "one child" policy of today, which usually results in the birth of boy (and often in the abortion of a girl -- the opposite of what Pharaoh wrought). Attempts at genocide, like Pharaoh's, do not go without inevitable "reckoning."

Practical Advice, for the Dudes