Our two major political parties are at loggerheads over what to do. The Democrats, always happy to engage in another government giveaway, clearly want to forgive most, if not all, student loan debt.
The Republicans, on the other hand, seemingly want the loans paid back to the last penny. They speak loudly of personal responsibility and the waste of taxpayer dollars, although privately, they point to polls showing President Biden’s support falling precipitously among the young. They see his loan forgiveness programs—probably correctly—as nothing more than a thinly disguised vote-buying effort in advance of the 2024 elections.
It’s time for another approach.
What if we allowed college graduates to pay back their student loans not in dollars and cents but in another currency—a currency that is even more valuable to the future of the republic?
The currency I am speaking about is strong, fruitful marriages—marriages in which the husband and wife are committed to bearing children.
Postponing student loan payments of those willing to enter into a long-term relationship—also known as marriage—with the intention of having children would be a good start. And then, as those children—whether natural or adopted—come along, we might begin forgiving their student loans.
Couples willing to bear and raise three or more children, let us say, would have their student loans completely wiped off the books.
After all, such couples would be providing for the future of their country in the most fundamental way—by providing the future generation. And they would be doing so at great personal and financial sacrifice, as anyone who has raised a large family knows.
Think of it as a kind of national service. And it’s a “service” of which we as a nation, like so many countries around the world, are in increasing need.
The fact is that the United States’ birth rate has fallen to historically low levels over the past few years. A preference for cohabitation over marriage, an unwillingness of young men to take on the responsibilities of marriage and family, and, above all, huge levels of student debt all work to discourage marriage and childbearing.
Student loans are arguably one of the most effective contraceptives ever invented. Who wants to marry someone who is heavily in debt, much less commit to the costly, long-term project of raising children with such a debtor?
Forgiving the student loans of those who are willing to enter into a long-term relationship (“marriage”) and have children might prove to be very “fruitful.”
But I would go even further. It seems to me that couples who are willing to raise three or more children should not just have their student loans forgiven but should also be sheltered from all federal taxes.
After all, such couples are providing for the future of their country in the most fundamental way, by providing the future generation, often at great personal sacrifice.
I can already hear the objections of feminists who will claim that such policies will turn young women into unwilling breeders. The truth, however, is exactly the opposite.
In other words, encouraging marriage, forgiving the student loans of the fruitful, and sheltering young couples from taxes will not in any way limit women’s options. Instead, it will empower them by allowing many to act on their deeply held desire to have children.
As for the rest, well, they can simply pay back their student loan in the conventional way.
Former President John F. Kennedy once said, “Children are the world’s most valuable resource and its best hope for the future.”
Actually, they are America’s only hope for the future.
