Lately,
I’ve been seeing a lot of economic “fixes” proposed by pundits and
politicians that look a lot like excuses to push partisan ideology,
particularly about social issues only tangentially related to the
economy.
Nancy
Pelosi argues (sort of) that abortion will save us money. My North Star
Writers Group colleague Gregory D. Lee
thinks deporting immigrants is the answer. A bad economy is like
Hitler: If you want to make a statement that packs a rhetorical punch,
you elevate the graveness of the subject matter by comparing it to
Hitler or the Nazi regime. If you have an opinion on a social issue and
want to highlight its importance, you argue that the key to solving our
economic maladies lies in that particular issue.
Nancy Pelosi controversially wanted to allocate funds in the stimulus
package for family planning and contraception, and told George
Stephanopoulos back in January that "family planning services reduce
cost” to the states who need federal money to pay for children's health
and education. “Contraception,” Pelosi said, “will reduce costs to the
states and to the federal government."
Now, Pelosi didn’t say that abortion should be funded by the stimulus,
unless one considers abortion to be contraception – and most people
consider contraception to be the thing that you use to prevent unwanted
pregnancy, and thus abortions – but she had to know how her words would
be interpreted. As another North Star colleague,
Dan Calabrese, suggested, her rhetoric implies that children are a
burden – they are usurpers from the adult producers, who require money
from the government for their health and education and thus sap
resources that could go elsewhere.
I agree with some part of Pelosi’s logic: People who can’t afford to
have children should be able to employ measures to not have children.
But adding a hot button issue like this to a stimulus package smacks of
partisanship, and she should have waited for another time. She didn’t
say “abortion,” but she might as well have. Ultimately, the funding was
removed from the package.
On the flip side, the National Right to Life Committee argues that
stopping abortion will save the economy, as each aborted fetus is a
potential taxpayer.
Lee argues: “There’s a much cheaper way (than the stimulus package)
to create three million jobs without bankrupting the country: Deport
illegals.” His argument is that, because at least one in three illegal
aliens holds a job in America, if we were to kick them out, those jobs
would become available. Lee overlooks the potential cost of processing
and then transporting 12 million people across the border. He also
overlooks the contributions illegal immigrants make to the economy –
they buy food, clothes and cell phones just like any other American.
If Lee were to speak to the NRLC, perhaps they would conclude that a
better option would be to make it easier for illegal immigrants to
become American citizens. They too, after all, are potential taxpayers.
In truth, one could make an argument about anything and relate it back
to our suffering economy. Prisons eat up our tax dollars, so we should
execute more prisoners. Prisoners eat up our tax dollars, so we should
stop executions and put more prisoners to work. Saving the environment
will help the economy by creating green jobs. Saving the environment
will hurt the economy because it costs money to reduce emissions and
install solar panels.
Solutions based on hotly contested social issues may be suggested with
the best of intentions, but they can never be successful, because they
are fraught with moral implications and partisan opinion. If any were to
be implemented, outrage would surely ensue.
It seems if all the energy spent trying to justify social positions by
claiming their monstrous effect on our economy was spent trying to plan
and execute real, pragmatic solutions – both at the government level and
amongst regular citizens – we could make some progress.
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