Excellent and thought-provoking piece. ... ... Another contributing factor is that we live in an era of officially mandated, retroactive, highly granular oikophobia. Educators incessantly tell you that, not only is the country bad, but that you and your family specifically are bad--and always have been and likely always will be. You have been intractably racist since birth, with no pathway to redemption. You despoil the environment. And whatever you have was stolen. Your own people's history is irredeemably negative, and things will only get worse. Those so indoctrinated naturally ask, "Why would I want to bring someone as awful as I am into the world, especially in a country as terrible as mine, just when things are about to spiral downward?” The "Amish, Mennonites, Orthodox Jews, fundamentalist Muslims, traditionalist Catholics" that you mention are those who have not bought into this narrative. (graboyes.substack.com)