Conservatives are bemoaning what they perceive to be a hopeless future for returning America to traditional values.  They are wondering if they will ever again see a conservative administration.  They are dejected, thinking about future election outcomes if millions of illegal aliens are made legal citizens.  They are rightfully upset about universities twisting the values of the next generation.  What they are ignoring is that they themselves hold the key to America's future.  Conservatives need to start getting married and then get busy in the bedroom.  

America is barely replacing itself.  The overall U.S. population replacement rate has been on a downward slide for some time.  The U.S. is now replacing itself at a rate of 1.7 per couple, which is obviously below what is needed for replacement.  Twenty eighteen showed the lowest birth rate in the United States in over three decades.

For some time now, almost half of those births are funded by Medicaid, which likely means many are being born into urban, poor, fatherless homes.  Given the current trend line, the future for conservative leadership and traditional values would appear to be hopeless.

Contrast that with Israel.  According to the Ettinger Report, the Israeli replacement rate is 3.1 per couple and climbing.  It is the highest in the developed world and now exceeds the replacement rate of Israel's Arab neighbors.  Furthermore, Israeli Jews with traditional values — i.e., traditional and observant Jews — are having, on average, between four and seven children (depending upon category).  Starting a family is a measure of hopefulness.

Politically, Israel can only continue to move in a more conservative direction despite liberal efforts to the contrary.  Some in Israel look at marriage and family as a mission to grow the state of Israel especially in light of the Holocaust.  Americans with traditional values need to take a lesson.  They need to take it as a personal mission: grow the nation, and fill it with legacy and hope.

Conservatives need to get involved in implementing policies that support growing families.  If liberals want to support policies that encourage health providers to fund abortions and birth control, why aren't conservatives pushing policies that fund adoption services and the like?  Again, by contrast, these are services covered by Israeli health service providers.

One other important comparison with Israel: observant families generally will not send their children to secular schools.  They send their children to schools where traditional values are reinforced.  Are there policies U.S. conservatives could endorse that would make religious schools more affordable?

We need someone in national conservative leadership who can champion this cause.  America's new Supreme Court justice, Amy Coney Barrett, may help make many important decisions, but perhaps her greatest impact could be as a role model for conservative families.

Why aren't more conservative leaders emphasizing "the need to breed"?  More than 40 years ago, Dan Quayle raised the issue of fatherless families.  Who will be the champion of the large traditional family?

Cheaper by the Dozen was a great movie, but it seems to have had little cultural impact.  Imagine if former vice president Pence or former president Trump would make having children a rallying cry for the seventy-five million patriots waiting for a mission.  Who will step up?

Perhaps conservatives have unknowingly been influenced by the left.  Has the left been successful in instilling false guilt about the planet's ability to handle more people?  Or perhaps the culture of "how does it make me feel" has overwhelmed America and the concept of giving by creating a family has been subconsciously buried.  Yet religious people instinctively know the first commandment in the Bible: "be fruitful and multiply."

Message to young Americans: "Stop bemoaning and get busy."  The world desperately needs a strong America based on traditional values.  A strong America starts with making more Americans.

Stop showing your work colleagues pictures of your pets and start showing them pictures of your growing families.  Get to the jewelry store and make a commitment — and get busy.  You can turn this around in a generation.

Gary Schiff is a natural resource consultant connecting Israel and the U.S.

Image: Photo by Jelleke Vanooteghem on Unsplash.  Public Domain.