Let’s have more babies — and less of this

My wife and I decided to have children for an entirely prosaic reason: We wanted to start a family. I’m glad every day that we did; my kids are the most important thing in my life. Literally the moment my oldest son was born, I became acutely aware of my own age and that a clock was ticking on the time I’d get to spend with him. I wished I’d had him sooner just to extend that duration, but I realize that no amount of time would be enough.

I am, in other words, an advocate of having children. I understand that parenting isn’t easy and that I am advantaged in doing so by having a partner and a steady income. I also understand that some people who want kids are unable to have them. What I do not understand, though, is the prevalent idea that having children is an essential element of reconstructing some idealized version of America — that having a clutch of kids is how we make America great again, in all of the ways that phrase...