(or, why rick perry’s an asshat)

there are many theories involved in the thinking behind what the government should and should not have to pay for. some people want the government to pay for next to nothing – after all, those are taxpayer dollars. others want the government to pay for nearly everything – after all, that’s what they’re there for. and many people fall somewhere in between, which leaves a lot of room for debate. debate that divides between party lines, lobby support, imagination and reality.

and then there are some undeniable facts that no one in their right mind could argue which should be taken into consideration when it comes to whether or not the government should pay for things. facts such as:

this is based on a national average taken from a study completed in 2009 by the usda … and just about everyone that has ever raised a child, period.

this is based on a quick look around the prophylactic section at walmart.

now i get that i’m over-simplifying the issue here. but that’s the whole point. maybe small-minded people like governor perry and his supporters (and the gop in general) need things over-simplified in order to wrap their tiny minds around them.

because i’m a taxpayer. and i don’t want my tax dollars being used in ways that i don’t agree with any more than any other taxpayer does. but think about it for just a minute here: even if i’m off by half of the cost of raising a child, and even if only a quarter of that is the part that tax-dollar-supported programs have to subsidize to raise a kid these days, that’s still $35,756.25 of my (and yours, and everyone’s) tax dollars needed to take care of one child that was unplanned. and even if i’m off by twenty times the cost of birth control, because, yes, i understand that other methods (such as the pill) do cost more, and even if the part that tax-dollar-supported programs have to subsidize birth control in programs for low-income and disadvantaged women is 100% of that cost, that’s still only $40 of my (and yours, and everyone’s) tax dollars needed to help prevent potentially multitudes of unwanted pregnancies… and in many cases also help prevent the spread of a whole host of sexually transmitted diseases. but let’s just focus on this being solely about birth control.

i don’t know about you, but i’m pretty sure it’s costing me less to let federal and state tax dollars subsidize health care clinics like planned parenthood.

the truly amazing thing about why this argument is so senseless to begin with, is because it didn’t even get started because elected government officials (such as rick perry) are waging a war on women by drastically reducing the amount of tax dollars used to subsidize birth control (while at the same time, telling us that it’s not them doing it, it’s the other guy). no, what started it was the white house’s mandate that all employers provide birth control as part of their insurance plans, and that private insurers not exclude birth control in their prescription medicine coverage.

so, yeah.