Political Rant

Frustrated!

*My appologies for all of the political/non-funny subject matter of late. I try to put these things on my blog rather than on Facebook because I assume that those who read my blog are familiar with my political leanings and are thus less likely to become offended. I promise to post something funny and light hearted soon*

Surveys on facebook thankfully have no scientific value and are not published as statistics, however a recent one grabbed my attention. The question is “Should people receiving government benefits such as welfare have to be drug tested?” An overwhelming majority of people replied yes.

Who do you think the majority of people who benefit from welfare are? Children. And do those children decide to be born to parents who can not provide for themselves and their families? No they do not. They have absolutely no say and if their parent can’t feed them because said parent smoked pot last week and failed a mandated drug test, then that child is helpless.

As a liberal I am frequently accused of having a “bleeding heart,” among other things, but as a liberal I can safely speak for most other liberals I know in saying that we are not under the delusion that the welfare/medicare/WIC/Foodstamps sytem is perfect. It is absolutely flawed and at times encourages recipients to stay in their current situation.

In my opinion, one of the best ways to start moving in the right direction would be to reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies, thus reducing the number of people dependent on the system to begin with. There are far too many people in this country and on this planet having children who simply do not need to be having children.

So, in walks Planned Parenthood, a non-profit organization which relies heavily on the government but also on private donations (mine included.) They provide birth control, condoms, counseling, pap smears, information and support, along with occasionally providing help with abortions when needed throughout the country. However here come the political issues:

Currently our system would appear to reward people who have multiple children. This is a flaw in the system which needs to be overcome.

Additionally, our government is currently going through a massive budget overhaul, in which they are attempting to cut funding for Planned Parenthood. PP is demonized for the abortion side of its business, a very small part of the organization which receives absolutely NO federal benefits as it is.

So, in order to save money, we are cutting funds for an organization that ultimately saves our country healthcare costs, saves lives, and decreases the number of unwanted pregnancies in this country thereby reducing the number of people relying on government funding. WTF? This frustrates me, and now I have said my piece about it.