It certainly wouldn’t be the man in the family unit taking this antidote. In other words, Brower wanted women to take chemicals, which would prevent them from bearing children. A married woman would then be given an ‘antidote’ for those chemicals in order to become pregnant, but only if the ‘State’ issued her a license. Does this sound like Huxley’s novel, Brave New World? This is pure totalitarianism. (By the way, Brower left three children behind and grandchildren. I guess his philosophy only applied to others, not himself.)

Some say Brower supported and advocated Marxist regimes. Brower’s totalitarian spirit was embraced by the Sandinistas in Nicaragua. The Soviets used him for propaganda purposes during the tail end of the Cold War. Totalitarian politics welcome population reduction theories, especially when it comes to reducing the populations of an enemy’s territory. Ehrlich’s “zero population” theory, which Brower encouraged Ehrlich to pursue, came from an 18th century mathematician.

Cambridge University professor Thomas Malthus was called “Pop” by his students because he advocated population control. Malthus refused to have his portrait drawn, until the year before he died, because he’d spent his entire life feeling ugly – he had a cleft palate and hare lip. It is interesting to note David Brower grew up being called “the toothless boob.” Falling out of his carriage as an infant, he injured his baby teeth and damaged his gums. Not until he was eleven years old did his second set of teeth grow in. Brower told his biographer he grew up afraid to smile. No kidding. Perhaps being deformed and rejected by one’s peers can engender a lifelong cynicism about people.

First published in 1798, Malthus’ Essay on the Principle of Population predicted the world’s population would outgrow its food supply. Malthus calculated the world’s food supply would continue growing at an arithmetic rate unless geometric population growth was somehow controlled. Malthus solution was for the poor and working classes to stop, or postpone, their creation activities by marrying late in life and abstaining from sex until then. He believed certain ‘positive checks’ would help prevent excessive population growth. These included war, famine, infanticide, diseases and homosexuality.

As often happens, Malthus’ essay was misinterpreted, in this case to blame the poor and working class for most of society’s ills. But his admirers were worldwide and also continued into the next few centuries. One such fan, economist John Maynard Keynes, advocated government intervention in the financial markets (perhaps because he had nearly wiped out his entire fortune during the 1929 stock market crash). The basic premise of Keynesian economics is to “reduce want.” This goes in hand with Keynes’ most popular quote, “In the long run, we are all dead.”