For the past two decades Canadian politicians of all stripes have told us that it's time to stop "mortgaging our future." They've talked about the unfairness of saddling future generations with a massive public debt, and they've talked about the need to correct the deep flaws inherent in our welfare state entitlements.

It is orthodox ideology today that overpopulation is a problem. We regularly hear dire warnings about the dangers it poses. But the term overpopulation is never defined. Exactly what is it? How do we know if a country is overpopulated? If overpopulation exists, is there such a thing as underpopulation?

Economic dynamism has helped nurture political decentralization throughout Latin America as deregulation, privatization, and individual enterprise have proven much more compatible with democratic than authoritarian forms of government. Reducing the regulatory role of government through elimination of trade barriers and privatization leaves less room, by definition, for government control over society, spurring democracy and greater local or individual empowerment.