Whoever Controls the Food, Controls the World
Mankind’s constant, consuming, and ceaseless primary need from the first day in Eden, has been to have enough food and water to keep his family alive. Additionally, man must have lodging, a source of income, and health care. Still, man’s biggest, most pressing, and constant need is food, including water.
And the food supply is being devastated by the ever-increasing population.
In 1906, Alfred Henry Lewis stated, “There are only nine meals between mankind and anarchy.” Three days without food will often turn friend against friend, neighbor against neighbor, and in some cases, relative against relative. It will also turn decent people into criminals and, in some cases, turn well-bred people into cannibals.
No stable person will go berserk after not eating for three days, but when the fear of starvation is added, panic will soon follow.
In 1798, Thomas Malthus wrote that the population expands in times of plenty until there is not enough food (and other resources) to feed the people. A relentless struggle for food causes tremendous pressure and distress in a region. Even in difficult times, the drive for “a virtuous attachment” (marriage) is so strong that the problem will worsen with additional children making any permanent improvement of the poor impossible. His basic premise was when times are good, the population increases, and the increase tends to consume resources, making it difficult for the less fortunate.
Malthusianism is in our world today, often with missionary zeal, to cut the population by prohibiting marriage, limiting family size, and even using the radical schemes of forced abortion, infanticide, and euthanasia. Even aborting handicapped babies after their birth and killing off those born without the possibility of a “quality life.”
Malthus posited that since population growth will always outrun the food supply, any improvement of humankind is impossible unless harsh limits on reproduction are imposed. He suggested late marriages and “moral restraint” (abstinence), wars, and disease would help keep a balance between the population and the food supply. Others added birth control; however, Malthus was an English preacher and did not recommend birth control.
When favorable weather produces abundant crops, the population is generally healthy and happy. They tend to keep having children in abundance. We are told the tendency toward marriage is a constant struggle and hinders any improvement in the condition of the poor. Therefore, the population increases, causing distress and pressure for additional food and other resources. Malthus considered society doomed to famine, disease, poverty, misery, and death; however, later marriages, sexual abstinence, and celibacy would help mitigate the suffering of the poor.