Liberal politicos—as distinct from progressive ideologues—rarely express their belief that “family planning,” as it’s euphemistically known, can alleviate or even solve the problem of poverty. We recall President Bill Clinton’s first surgeon general, the logorrheic Joycelyn Elders, remarking in her confirmation hearing in 1993 that she “would like to make every child born in America a planned and wanted child.” But you had to use your imagination to figure out the underlying ideology.
Not so with French politicians! Late last month, at the Gates Foundation’s “Goalkeepers” confab in New York, French president Emmanuel Macron unloaded: “One of the critical issues we have regarding the African demography is the fact that this is not a chosen fertility,” said Macron. “I always say, please present me the lady who decided—being perfectly educated—to have seven, eight, nine children.”
Macron always says this? Then he should stop saying it. The French president insisted he wasn’t “teaching African people from New York.” Mon dieu, how condescending that would be! Such an imperialistic idea was “pure bull—,” Macron said, his word choice hinting at perhaps a touch of defensiveness. He then attempted to soften his assertion by adding that he’d be “fine” with a woman having a large family—generous of him!—so long as “this is her choice after education.” Which is weird, because earlier he’d said that having “seven, eight, nine” children signaled a lack of education.
The problem with Africans, the French president sounds as if he’s saying, is that there are too many of them. But of course he couldn’t possibly think that, being perfectly educated.
