"Colorful Rag" on the RH Bill and Statism

The following passage is from the "Colorful Rag" article RH Bill, Poverty and Big Government. (Not that I fully agree with libertarianism either...)

It’s also nonsense to say that Filipinos’ quality of life is being “decreed” by bishops, just because they’re opposing a coercive program. Are these Catholic Church representatives calling for a coercive ban on contraceptives? Are drugstore owners facing fines and imprisonment for selling these products? People should learn to distinguish between being bugged by their conscience, and being harassed by the government.

THE STATE WILL SOLVE EVERYTHING! 

And so not only do we have an example of the refuted Malthusian fallacy of ‘overpopulation,’ but are witness to a misplaced trust in the state to determine the production and distribution of the disputed resources that are already freely available. There is a considerable percentage of the population that advocates the bill ― are we still to suppose that charities and other ‘pro-choice’ organizations won’t have enough funding for the contraceptive and reproductive health programs they envision? 

But it’s the government’s job, many would contend. It is exactly this mentality ― of dependence on inherently violent institutions ― that lovers of liberty oppose, whether the issue involves contraceptives, mobile phone plans, food safety, or whatnot.

And maybe in the not-so-distant future, if government no longer exists, we could laugh about the destruction reaped in earlier centuries by socialism-statism, in the same way we laugh today about embarrassing experiences in our adolescence.

Another lousy pro-RH article from the Inquirer, and a "colorful" response

The following is a response to this article.

TAGUM CITY’S LOW POVERTY: THANKS TO POPULATION CONTROL?
(Published June 12, 2011 on the "Colorful Rag" blog.

The Inquirer has done it again, with the article ‘Tagum: A poster city for RH bill,’ in which the spin is that local government-provided vasectomies and ligations have kept poverty incidence in Tagum City at ‘only’ 19%.

Just as with the Salve article last month (which was not just unscholarly, but anti-scholarly), we are tossed data without any regard for the interpretation of such data, resulting in bad conclusions that do not reflect reality.

CONTINUE READING HERE

RH Bill: Foisting Poverty

From the Colorful Rag post entitled MANNY PACQUIAO AGAINST RH BILL: IGNORANTLY RIGHT, a.k.a. Big government is not hanging in the balance

If I had several quick questions to ask someone for them to rethink their perspective, I’d throw these: 

1. Do you think it’s a good idea to invest in reproductive health centers in the provinces, when some municipalities don’t even have enough funding for general-purpose hospitals? 

2a. Do you think that there is a fixed amount of resources for Filipinos to share, which makes a smaller population better? 

2b. And could this output be maintained when population diminishes? 

2c. Couldn’t something be done to increase resources per person, apart from population control, instead of merely splitting up a predetermined pie? 

2d. Wouldn’t it help more to remove barriers to local and foreign investments?

3a. Japan and other developed nations in Asia have larger population densities than the Philippines, and third-world nations in Africa have smaller population densities. Why? 

3b. Couldn’t other economic and political conditions be focused on instead, to achieve the desired prosperity? 

I’ve addressed most of this stuff before in my earlier articles. I will now contemplate on what the passage, or non-passage of this bill, will mean in the greater scheme of things.  

If the RH bill does become law, it’s not going to herald doomsday. Sadly, it’s just one of thousands of laws that foist government control on our lives and make for poverty in the country. The billions to be spent on such an inane law are peanuts to the destruction of wealth as perpetuated by the continued existence of the DepEd, Customs, DTI, Bangko Sentral, DENR, etc. 

If the RH bill is thwarted, in spite of Lea Salonga’s rendition of ‘Imagine,’ we’ll still have a juggernaut of a state to deal with, unless the RH bill is defeated by good economics (unlikely), which makes it a potential starting point for educating the public en masse and making government intervention politically unpalatable.

"Colorful Rag" versus Pro-RH Rag

And YET ANOTHER response to the "Salve" controversy stirred up by the PDI.

LARGE POOR FAMILIES: ‘STRONG CASE’ FOR RH BILL?

From the "Colorful Rag" blog.

For a news article, the Inquirer’s ‘Salve’s life: A strong case for RH bill’ is sure opinionated. Sa title pa lang. And there’s nothing logical about it too.

If we’re going to be pilosopo about it, how would education on contraception and providing contraceptives help Salve now? As far as I know, the bill contains no provisions involving time travel, that would allow Salve to never conceive some of her eight kids. Nor does the bill provide a ‘Salve’s choice’ where she is burdened with deciding which of her spawn to have obliterated (RH bill advocates are implicitly saying that poor kids are of little value and better off never being born).

CONTINUE READING THIS ARTICLE.