Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Birth Control, Conservativism, The Catholic Church, & Rush Limbaugh

In response to so much knee jerk opposition to a Presidential legislative proposition, I must once again voice my position on the subject of distraction du jour.

   The proposed legislation was to require insurance companies to provide birth control, not the state.  Any statement made about "your taxes" is moot.  That being said, as a "fiscally conservative" taxpayer, I insist that the government spend it's tax revenue as effectively and efficiently as possible.  Obviously the label "fiscally conservative" is meaningless because all citizens regardless of their political ideology want the money spent as effectively and efficiently as possible.  A society costs money.  Taxes are necessary in order to maintain society.  I WANT my taxes spent on supporting Planned Parenthood and any NGO or state funded program that provides birth control.  I WANT my taxes being spent effectively and efficiently so that all citizens, men and women, have access to affordable birth control in all of it's forms.  Preventative birth control should be encouraged in our society.  Why?  Because it is more efficient and effective to spend our tax dollars on birth control then to have to pay for the cost of welfare, food stamps, housing assistance, child care, health care, education and unfortunately the criminal activity and incarceration that will occur with some unplanned pregnancies.  If every pregnancy in our country (and in the world) was a planned pregnancy, then the need for many of the social programs that rely upon tax dollars would virtually disappear.  To say that the taxpayer's burden, in order to maintain society would be greatly diminished would be the understatement of the century.

    What a tragic irony it is that those within the Pro-Life Movement, particularly the Catholic Church, that are also opposed to providing citizens with the tools needed to prevent unplanned pregnancy.  There are "realists", there are "idealists" and then there are "absurdists".  To think that the only message to the human race, is that the only option in life is to not be a sexual being unless you are planning on conceiving a child is absolutely absurd.  The Catholic Church does do an amazing amount of charitable work around the world, but with a global population that will soon reach 7 billion, and according to The World Bank, 80% of the human race lives on less than $10 a day, the message should be "prevent pregnancy" not "abstinence".   

    Rush Limbaugh, the most infamous of all knee jerk reactionary opponents of anything said by anyone that is identified as a Democrat or a Liberal, has committed in my opinion the greatest of all offenses, hypocrisy.  How often has he ranted about welfare moms leaching off of the system?  How often has he claimed that much of our financial burden as taxpayers comes from people who are on state assistance and continue to have children so that they can continue to stay on assistance and not have to work?  It is a fact that there is abuse within the system, I'm not denying that.  There is lots of abuse throughout the entire economic system, but Rush never complains about subsidies to already profitable oil or pharmaceutical corporations.  He just rants and places blame, and creates an Us vs.Them mentality.  That's his job.  Again, tragic irony that he is not the loudest voice advocating that all people on state assistance should be on birth control.  Republicans in several states are demanding that everyone on state assistance be drug tested, at their own expense (and to a net loss for the state of Florida)  But none of the conservative pundits are advocating for encouraging citizens on state assistance to be on birth control.

     So here is my proposal: Let's pick a county in the center of Maine.  Let's fund all forms of preventative birth control for all of the citizens in that county. How do we fund it?  I don't know, that's what our elected officials are for, figuring out a budget.  I will accept an increase in one of the state taxes.  Let's encourage the young people that as they become adults to use birth control. Commit to doing it for five years.  Track the number of teen pregnancies, the number of abortions, the crime rate, the number of new applicant single mothers and families on state assistance.  After we have the data, let's talk about the effectiveness of the program and whether or not it was cost effective.  If it works, then let's implement it on a state wide level.  If  it's not, I'll admit that I was wrong, but at least I was willing to try something to fix the problem. To all of the conservative pro-lifers out there, if it prevents one abortion, wouldn't it be worth it?