BE OUR GUEST: IS OVERPOPULATION A SUBJECT LIBERALS KEEP RESURRECTING TO JUSTIFY BIRTH CONTROL?

Ralph Flori is a Cape Girardeau businessman and a previous contributor to this column.

It seems that overpopulation is a subject that the liberals keep resurrecting to justify birth control. Recently, a guest editorial appeared in the Southeast Missouri again raising that flag. It would not be too bad except the control of population leads not only to birth control, but also to abortion and euthanasia. We have too long tolerated abortion "population control" in this country with the result that:

1. Our death rate in this country is now greater than our birth rate. We are seeing our population increasing only because we are getting more immigrants including illegal aliens.

2. As a result of "killing off" (aborting) 4,400 future taxpayers of America per day, or at last count over 25 million, America is getting into a very serious financial crisis, not to mention a spiritual one.

3. People throughout this country are starting to supporting the killing off of those who are in pain ala Dr. Jack Kevorkian. The law was almost passed in Oregon in this last election to allow doctor-assisted suicides in the state of Oregon, and was only defeated by a small majority.

Folks, don't you see what is happening? Germany is being repeated all over again. First the babies, then those who are dying anyway, then those who cannot "contribute to society," then those who are too old, and in this forthcoming scourge, those who profess to be Christians, as according to liberal "theology" these people with their "sin" complexes are trying to spoil everyone's fun.

God gave us many commands, of which Gen. 1:28 was one and that is "Be fruitful and multiply." As far as I know, He has not rescinded that command in spite of what some people say today. He is totally in charge of population control and has done quite well in the past, thank you!

As to overpopulation, for the sake of those who had not see it before, or have chosen to ignore it, I refer to my letter to the editor on "overpopulation" that appeared in September 1992.

If you run the figures on population, you will find the following startling facts. As of the 1990 World Almanac, there are 5.333 billion people on Earth. If you would stand all of them up loosely together, how much space do you think you would require? All of the United States? The Western Hemisphere? No! Just the city of Jacksonville, Fla. Aw, come on now! True! Figuring two square feet for every man, woman and child, a very generous amount, Jacksonville is 841 square miles, which would have enough room for 5.861 billion people.

How about dividing the world population into families of four, giving each family a standard three-bedroom home, on an average plot of ground about 50-by-100 feet, how much space would you need? To save time, they would all fit nicely into the state of Texas, with enough left over for another 127 million households. (Texas is 262,015 square miles.)

How about doing the same thing, except giving each family one acre of ground instead of a standard lot? This time, it would all fit in Australia, with enough left over for another 569,000 households. (Australia has 2.966 million square miles.)

Basically, people are starving because of wars, politics, droughts, greed and lack of transportation, and not because there is not enough food.