I believe Ezra Klein is telling the truth here, of course, but man, what very different worlds he and I live in.

I have never, ever had anyone ask me that, or express those sentiments in my presence. Not once. I am a conservative blogger and writer who lives in south Louisiana ; Ezra is a liberal journalist who lives with his wife and kids in Oakland, in the San Francisco Bay Area.

In fact, I can’t think of any question that stands out from my speeches, dinners, and conversations. If we talk about politics at all, it’s usually something to do with the themes of my last two books (The Benedict Option and Live Not By Lies), reasonably enough — but even then, it’s far more common that in general conversation, we talk about all kinds of things. It really is startling to me that Ezra Klein lives and works in a milieu in which lots of people have that particular issue front to mind. I’m not saying that as a criticism, it’s just … strange.

To be fair, I wish more people from my own tribe were more apocalyptic than they are — not about climate change (though I believe that it’s happening), and more about cultural and religious collapse. I think that social, religious, and cultural conservatives don’t worry nearly enough about what’s happening to our moral and spiritual ecology. But that worry ought to be a catalyst to action, not to paralysis! And even then, the only reason I can bear such heavy thoughts is because I don’t spend all my time thinking about it. I like all kinds of things about life — things that don’t necessarily make good posts for a blog like this, but do add up to a fulfilling life, and one worth bringing children up in.

This morning I was walking around downtown Vienna, which has to be one of the richest cities on the planet. Yesterday I saw for the fourth or fifth time The Third Man, filmed in 1948, when parts of this city were in rubble from the war. And yet, people here still had children, not knowing what the future was going to bring. They had children because that’s what one does. That’s not who we are anymore, is it?

I wonder how many of these people just don’t want to have children, period, and are looking for a virtuous excuse to rationalize their decision…

What about you? Is there a single question or theme that comes up constantly in conversations in your circles? If yes, what is it, and why does it keep coming up? If not, why do you think your circles don’t live like Ezra Klein’s circles?

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