Wednesday, August 22, 2012

population

Consider this posting 2-days-in-a-row atonement for my previous irregularity in annoying you all with my political beliefs.

I've been thinking a lot about overpopulation.  Clearly, Earth is not meant to hold 8 billion resource consuming humans.  Long-term security demands that we begin slowing our population's explosive growth, but I'm unwilling to impose stringent child limits like those for which China is so famous.  We've seen both ends of government controlling reproductive health- China forcing abortions, and Ceausceau's Romania using secret police as gynecologists to catch any women who were using birth control.  Both are abhorrent, as the Right to Choice is essential to all human beings, but especially society's vulnerable and exploited, i.e. women.  I am not about to support either.

So, we need a non-coercive way to control overpopulation.  I rather think that this is one area where the U.S. can and should take the lead.  We have about 5 percent of the world's population, but consume nearly 40% of its resources.  Frankly, humanity will benefit much more noticeably from a reduction in our birth rate than it would from an equivalent drop anywhere else.  Step one has to be removing the tax incentive for children, at least past the first.  This is going to be painful for everyone, not least because having fewer workers will skew our balance of population towards those who have earned their retirement, and suddenly have fewer people to support them.  I would remind everyone, though, that economic health is kind of contingent upon actually having resources to consume, and responsible conservation has to be the primary imperative.

Removing the basic tax incentives for large families will help, but should be paired with an expansion of reproductive health care, making sure each baby is wanted.  That's the relatively easy part.

Social services are trickier- what of subsidies for child care, or food stamps?  What about health insurance?  I am unwilling to cover some children, but not all, or to tell a struggling mother that her younger children do not deserve support, and yet these and other tax credits do subsidize unstable population growth.  I hope we'll all agree that creating a two-tiered system of "First" and "unwanted" children is every bit as evil as existing class oppressions, and is therefore off the table.  I'd like to throw this open for discussion- Is there a way to discourage having large families that will not hurt the most vulnerable members of society?

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Impetus for a Prochoice majority to act

I'm sure you all heard what my dear former congressman Akin got himself into.  In case you haven't had the stomach to investigate the details (which is fully understandable) not only did he claim that women can simply "shut down" unwanted pregnancy without birth control, but he also accused rape victims of faking their assaults in order to expedite abortion care.

There's really so much wrong with this that I don't know where to begin.  This is clearly the viewpoint of perhaps 30-40 percent(20 percent according to gallup, plus a further 37 that say choice should only be permitted in certain circumstances) of the country, with another third at least dispassionate and uninterested.  With this in mind, I find it surprisingly heartening that the reaction has been so overwhelmingly negative.  Even the CNN comments section is overwhelmingly anti-Akin.  Who knows, maybe people still actually stand up for women's rights...

As I've not yet addressed this topic on this circular, I thought to enumerate my thoughts on the matter of abortion.
     As a man, I have significantly greater reproductive freedom than a woman.  Whatever the legal and economic consequences being responsible for an unplanned pregnancy on me, I would be spared the physical burdens.  This inherent inequality justifies giving women the ultimate authority in this matter.  A basic human right is the right to one's own body, and any and all effort to prevent women from exercising this right is simply unqualified evil.  My platform on this issue is  as follows: Abortion on demand, without exception or apology.  Whatever rights a potential human being may have, they cannot compare to those of an actual human being.  Therefore, no matter how uneasy I may be made by late term abortions, or by gender-specific abortions, I do not feel entitled to make such a decision for any woman, provided the decision is in fact her own.  The aforementioned practices disturb me, but that doesn't justify establishing any cutoff after which women lose their human rights for the duration of their pregnancy.  No restrictions on abortion at all.

This can be coupled with expanded sex education, greater access to birth control, and nationalized childcare services, to ameliorate the unequal burden of domestic labor on women in general and working women in particular.  Alternately, paid parental leave.  We are the only country in North America or Europe not to guarantee paid time off for family building, the most visible manifestation of our culture's indifference to domestic life- that which is labeled "feminine".  Sadly, it is often this work, of nurturing, understanding, and caretaking, that imparts senses of social justice in many people who undertake it, including many mothers.  But our society not only belittles the importance of this work, but insults those who do it, either by choice, or because they are expected to.  I wonder if a society could ever be based on values of compassion and understanding rather than killing, hate, and fear.  Surely, such a realm would be truly great.  To me, this is what it means to be a cultural feminist- that merely guaranteeing fairness is not sufficient, rather our social value structure must be reexamined, and, if necessary, amended to make for a greater society.

Whew.  That started as just a pro-choice argument but went much broader.  This is probably why some professors don't like my essays.  To hell with that, I like this, and I feel I've expressed my thoughts adequately.

In Solidarität
Genosse Graham

Sunday, August 12, 2012

Supporting Anderson

It's been quite a few weeks.  Missouri had our primary- my reluctant choices for congress and city treasurer won, while my passionate choices for sheriff, state senate, and state house lost.  More importantly, there was yet another massacre in Wisconsin.  I've outlined my thoughts on gun control in the previous post, but I think that the rise of right-wing extremism and overwhelming prejudice make it all the more important to our republic.  Not only is failure to act dangerous to all citizens, but it also puts minorities at greater risk of bodily harm.  We need real gun control, not just enforcement of existing laws, and not government by the Rick Perrys, Phil Gramms and Charleton Hestons.  Our policy is "any gun, anywhere, any time", and over the past two weeks we've seen bloody reminders of how dangerous that is.  Good luck and heartfelt apologies to the victims.

On a lighter note, I've been preparing to take the next step in supporting Justice Party candidate Mayor Ross "Rocky" Anderson for president.  His campaign is conducting a write-in effort in Wisconsin, where I attend school so I will be able to vote for him.  There is, however a snag.  Wisconsin law requires any candidate to have a slate of electors representing each of Wisconsin's 8 districts pledged to him, to go vote in the electoral college in the (in this case unlikely) event he is to win the state.  The campaign has none yet recruited.  I therefore am pleased to announce to you all my candidacy for Presidential Elector of Wisconsin on behalf of Rocky Anderson, and my search for fellow candidates from all of Wisconsin's districts.  I ask all of you to rack your brains to think of friends you have in any part of the Badger state, preferably crazy left-wingers like me, but anyone willing and registered to vote will suffice.  To reiterate, this is not an onerous task- it consists of filling out a form, which I will mail or otherwise provide to the prospective candidates, sent to the board of elections before October 23d.

If you know anyone in the 1st, 3d, 4th-(yay, Congresswoman Moore!), 5th, 6th, 7th, or 8th districts who may be interested, please notify me!

In Solidarity
Genosse Graham