Underrated comment. You can’t print human capital, and if fertility rates are declining everywhere, every nation is competing for a shrinking young, productive talent pool.
The US is well suited to solve this problem with more immigration, we already have more incredibly talented people banging on the doors then our nightmarish naturalization system can take.
Look at the most recent republican immigration bill - it was basically canada's or australia's immigration system. The electorate very much wants to keep skilled, legal immigration going.
You’re right on the first part, but you don’t need unification to stop something. We’re in the 11th or 12th speaker of the house vote because of ~20 folks.
Convincing the electorate of most things is just a matter of marketing, for better or worse. You’d be surprised how many former PR and marketing execs now work in DC think tanks and as lobbyists and political consultants.
Coca Cola has made and kept its fortune by successfully associating a syrup that is bad for you with Pure Happiness.
Marketing, media exposure, and subliminal messaging both turned Americans completely against weed from the 70s-2000s and then also now completely in support of weed legalization in the past decade.
Similarly, as we’re seeing play out today, the right has found success marketing the “danger” of drag queens to turn political opinion against the LGBTQ community, which itself gained overwhelmingly acceptance in the face of once-overwhelming disapproval by powerful self-determination and taking control of how they were portrayed in the media.
The same forces that convince people en masse to buy a certain brand can just as easily be used to affect how we view any political issue.
More importantly every nation is competing for a shrinking pile of consumers. Old people can be extremely productive, but they don't buy nearly as much on average, so all that productivity has nowhere to go if there are fewer young people to sell to.