The right-wing attack machine went into overdrive last week after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi dared to defend funds for family planning in the House’s stimulus bill.
Pelosi told ABC’s “This Week” that the promotion of contraceptives and family planning will reduce government costs by preventing unwanted pregnancies.
That should be common sense, but you would’ve thought that she advocated the neutering of all newborn males. Conservative scolds took her to task, mostly based on religious objections to family planning.
Charges of Nazi-style eugenics and China’s one-child policy poisoned the debate with no grounding in reality. MSNBC’s Chris Matthews said, “(W)hy should the federal government have a policy of reducing the number of births?”
CNN’s Jack Cafferty said, “That’s starting to sound a little like Chairman Mao.”
Brian Sussman told KFSO radio in San Francisco: “She’s talking about in-the-womb genocide here.”
Once again, faced with manufactured controversy from ideologues, the Democrats backed down and removed family-planning funds from the bill. It’s a shame to see the Democrats continue to cave in to right-wing thugs’ scare tactics. Wasn’t this cowardice supposed to end with the election of Barack Obama?
Andrea Tantaros, a political commentator on Fox News, said, “Show me an economist that says we are in an economic crisis because of birth-control shortage.”
It’s typical that people who object to family planning (or any other kind of planning) are looking about five minutes down the road instead of decades. In the long run, policies such as the one Pelosi promotes will indeed cut costs, in health care, unemployment and other services needed by people marginalized by unfettered capitalism.
The world cannot sustain unlimited population growth. Where will the food and water come from? Where will the jobs come from with resources in decline?
US News and World Reports quotes Phil Longman in his book “Empty Cradle”: Population growth is a major source of economic growth: More people create more demand for the products capitalists sell and more supply of the labor capitalists buy ... a decline in the number of workers implies a decline in an economy’s potential growth.”
This is nonsense on so many counts. At the current level of population, there is hunger, homelessness, poverty and lack of jobs.
All of these will increase exponentially as population rises.
Companies seek more efficiency and productivity without increasing labor costs. So all those people from the population boom aren’t going to get jobs. Longman doesn’t consider this. His classic economic model discounts the fact that capitalists try to get the most done with the least people.
The only way people can buy from capitalists is if they have living-wage jobs. But it’s more important for capitalists to maintain profits than jobs. Still, all those people who can’t work will need to live.
What happens with increasing demand for resources from an overpopulated world? There will be riots in the streets (remember “Soylent Green”?) just for food and water. Government costs will have to escalate to help those left out by capitalism.
Family planning and a reduction of population is absolutely essential to the survival of the planet. The scare tactics involving eugenics and one-child laws only give people an opportunity to keep their heads in the sand about long-term problems. A national family planning and contraceptive policy only makes sense and serves as a firm rejection of an octuplet mentality that too many people accept.
Stephen Dick writes for The Herald Bulletin in Anderson, Ind., a CNHI newspaper. He can be reached at steve.dick@heraldbulletin.com.
Opinion
Related Photos
February 9, 2009
Family planning is essential
- Opinion
-
-
Coffee makers and a gaggle of little girls
Our Keurig coffee maker has died and I am grieving big time.
Loretta has washed it out with two gallons of white vinegar — twice — and followed all the instructions that came with the book that tells about cleaning it and all that, but I knew, weeks ago, that cleaning it was like dressing a corpse. -
Fretting over Christmas choices
Right around now is when people start fretting over creches in the public square and arguing as to whether publicly funded Christmas symbols violate the establishment clause of the First Amendment. And right about now is also when certain Jewish groups begin insisting that the answer is to place a Hanukkah menorah right next to that creche, which leads atheists to complain about a plague on both their houses.
-
Romney bets on old rules as Newt moves under radar
We’re not going to lose in New Hampshire.” So says Mitt Romney’s state coordinator, Jason McBride.
Stuart Stevens, the Romney campaign’s TV ad-maker, expresses similar confidence. Asked if Romney might finish second in New Hampshire, his answer is an unhesitating “no.” - Oma Mullins, 97
-
Food tampering laws overdue
In 2009, co-workers say a cook at a Kentucky State Park in Barren County put food down his pants before serving it to a retired Kentucky State Trooper he did not like. The cook was fired and a lawsuit was filed. It does not appear he was charged criminally.
-
Marilyn Monroe never sang to me
The Republican governor of South Carolina probably should have a talk with former Kentucky Democrat governor Paul Patton.
Paul might be able to offer some tips on dealing with the extramarital affair recently disclosed after South Carolina’s chief executive vanished for over five days. -
Making a bad bill worse
How do you make a dreadfully bad piece of legislation -- the nearly $900-billion so-called “stimulus” bill -- worse? Simple -- add protectionism.
-
The national Ponzi scheme
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) was set up to combat fraudulent practices. The SEC's website explains that "Ponzi schemes are a type of illegal pyramid scheme named for Charles Ponzi, who duped thousands of New England residents into investing in a postage stamp speculation scheme back in the 1920s.
-
It’s a dog’s life in Barker home
Anybody who knows me that my promise to not write about my dog doesn’t hold any water.
-
Family planning is essential
The right-wing attack machine went into overdrive last week after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi dared to defend funds for family planning in the House’s stimulus bill.
- More Opinion Headlines
-
Former Komen Exec Defends Funding Cut
Skip the Coffee Cup and Inhale Your Caffeine Fix
Calif. Gay Marriage Ban Ruled Unconstitutional
Jury Selection for Ex-UVa Athlete Enters 2nd Day
Raw Video: Giants Celebrate Another Super Bowl
Cab Driver Helps Wis. Family Escape House Fire
Greek Leaders Seek Deal As Bankruptcy Looms
Bernanke: Recovery Depends on Consumer Spending
Staff Removed at LA School During Abuse Probe
Eastwood in Super Bowl Ad 'Compassionate'
Stranded Fishermen Rescued From Bay of Green Bay
Analyst: Outside Troops Won't Intervene in Syria
Police: Father Planned Deadly Fire for Some Time
US, UK Pressure on Syria; More Homs Violence
Raw Video: Mass Killer Wants Medal, Freedom
Court Strips Contador of Tour De France Title
Runaway Goat Leads Police on Wild Chase
And the Winner for Best Super Bowl Ad Is...
Romney Latest Poll to Join Let-me-explain Club
