Rep. King: Covering Birth Control Could Make Us A 'Dying Civilization'

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Rep. King: Covering Birth Control Could Make Us A ‘Dying Civilization’

He really said that.

By Eclectic Infidel

Wingnuts • August 2011 • Views: 2,114

huffingtonpost.com

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) expressed a fairly extreme concern on the House Floor Monday night about the expanded preventative health coverage: offering free birth control to women could eventually kill off the entire human species.

KING: We have people that are single, we have people that are past reproductive age, we have priests that are celibate. All of them, paying insurance premiums that cover contraceptives so that somebody else doesn’t have to pay the full fare of that? And they’ve called it preventative medicine. Preventative medicine. Well if you applied that preventative medicine universally what you end up with is you’ve prevented a generation. Preventing babies from being born is not medicine. That’s not— that’s not constructive to our culture and our civilization. If we let our birth rate get down below replacement rate we’re a dying civilization.

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31 comments

WINDUPBIRD DISEASE [S.K.U.M.M.] Tue, Aug 2, 2011 4:52:52pm

Steve King has those dull dog eyes, sorta predatory and stupid all at once

theheat Tue, Aug 2, 2011 5:22:45pm

Preventing babies from being born is not medicine. That's not— that's not constructive to our culture and our civilization. If we let our birth rate get down below replacement rate we're a dying civilization.

Apparently the globe is not his friend. There's a country called "AFRICA" where the birth rate rivals that of rabbits. However...

There isn't enough food.
Or water.
Or enough medicine.
Or safety.
Or schools.
There's an AIDS epidemic.

Yeah, it'd be great to have that here. Just super. Let's overturn this birth control "conspiracy."
//

Dumbasses like this that dream of a white Christian landscape ought to own a breeding pair of rabbits and just one rabbit cage. Let the bunnies run buckwild for awhile, then multiply the results times a several billion planet-wide. Let me know how that turns out.

(And for pity's sake, somebody take a pair of horse clippers to his whack eyebrows. Sheesh.)

aagcobb Tue, Aug 2, 2011 5:42:35pm

Don't you understand? According to the liberty loving patriots who are rugged individualists and hate big government, women are breeding stock for the state, like a herd of cattle. Moooo!

Slumbering Behemoth Stinks Tue, Aug 2, 2011 6:25:25pm

Religious nuts have been pimping this same lie for well over twenty years, and in the last twenty years the world population has grown by 1.7B. That's 1,700,000,000 more living people on the planet then there was twenty years ago.

That clearly puts the lie to the very old an tired 'dying civilization' meme. But it's never been about that with these religious nuts, and they know it's a lie. It's about power, money, and control. And hey, if racist nativists happen to hear a dog-whistle in that lie, the religious nuts are just as happy to take their money and support as they would anyone's.

Let'sTalk Tue, Aug 2, 2011 6:30:32pm

Unbelievable. Barefoot and pregnant, that's all I'm good for? Dang!! I keep forgetting.

Gretchen G.Tiger Tue, Aug 2, 2011 6:48:48pm

To Rep. King.

I choose to be a Free Woman in a Dying Civilization.

The Questionable Timing of a Flea Tue, Aug 2, 2011 6:58:07pm

To Rep King:

Civilization isn't genetic.

Slumbering Behemoth Stinks Tue, Aug 2, 2011 7:21:21pm

re: #5 Let'sTalk

Unbelievable. Barefoot and pregnant, that's all I'm good for?

No, you're good for making sandwiches and fetching beers, too.
/

CuriousLurker Tue, Aug 2, 2011 7:23:47pm

Rep. King, I have only three words to say about your comments:

Breivik talking point

I'm going to start a list of talking points taken from Breivik's manifesto, and by extension from the far-right hate bloggers, and every time one of you demagogues pulls one out, I'm going remind as many people as I can where you got it from and all the dead kids that were the end result of that kind of thinking.

Achilles Tang Tue, Aug 2, 2011 7:26:22pm

KING: We have people that are single, we have people that are past reproductive age, we have priests that are celibate. All of them, paying insurance premiums that cover contraceptives so that somebody else doesn't have to pay the full fare of that?

Standard TP/GOP slogan, "One for one and none for all"

Slumbering Behemoth Stinks Tue, Aug 2, 2011 7:28:33pm

re: #9 CuriousLurker

It could be that Breivik got his ideas from them. Memes like the one King spews above are older than Breivik. Just sayin'.

But either way, I wholly support your effort!

CuriousLurker Tue, Aug 2, 2011 7:33:31pm

re: #11 Slumbering Behemoth

I hear you. The chicken or the egg—it doesn't really matter, as long as people see the relationship.

Slumbering Behemoth Stinks Tue, Aug 2, 2011 7:36:43pm

Birth Control: Have Unrestricted, Unlimited Sex! Anytime! Anywhere!* What are you waiting for?!?

*_{Actual Results May Vary}

HappyWarrior Tue, Aug 2, 2011 7:43:01pm

I figured this was Steve King. What a dope.

Lidane Tue, Aug 2, 2011 7:53:28pm

The hatred for birth control will always mystify me. Birth control is waaay cheaper than an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy and lowers the abortion rate.

I guess they just hate the idea of women controlling their own bodies so much that they have to rely on racist "dying civilization" memes to scare people. Unbelievable.

Jaerik Tue, Aug 2, 2011 7:54:18pm

Remember folks, your duty in life is to be fruitful and multiply. Have as many kids as you possibly can. We won't do a damn thing to help your kids once they're born, because that would be socialist, but it's important to have butts in pews so that God can tell us to tell you who to vote for.

HappyWarrior Tue, Aug 2, 2011 7:58:05pm

re: #15 Lidane

The hatred for birth control will always mystify me. Birth control is waaay cheaper than an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy and lowers the abortion rate.

I guess they just hate the idea of women controlling their own bodies so much that they have to rely on racist "dying civilization" memes to scare people. Unbelievable.

Yeah, I don't get it either. But remember a lot of these sick fucks I imagine King included see an unwanted pregnancy as "God's punishment" on a woman and that probably includes rape knowing how he and many of them are about women who want the right to choose if they're carrying their rapist's child.

Slumbering Behemoth Stinks Tue, Aug 2, 2011 8:00:05pm

re: #15 Lidane

I don't think the meme is intrinsically racist, but it certainly works on that level, and the wider the audience you can reach with your meme, the better.

And for those that aren't concerned with race, I think Jaerik hits this one nicely in #16, it does work on those concerned with the perpetuation of their faith within the population. In other words, those concerned that their religion won't survive if they don't breed enough future "indoctrinees".

Slumbering Behemoth Stinks Tue, Aug 2, 2011 8:06:38pm

re: #1 WindUpBird

Nah, I think that's the Jihadi Gaze that CL was talking about previously.

dragonfire1981 Tue, Aug 2, 2011 8:33:54pm

Is this the same guy who went all Joe Mccarthy on Muslims not long ago.

Kragar Tue, Aug 2, 2011 8:34:43pm

King, you ignorant twit

Slumbering Behemoth Stinks Tue, Aug 2, 2011 8:35:37pm

re: #20 dragonfire1981

I believe you may be thinking of Rep. Peter King.

(I Stand By What I Said Whatever It Was) Tue, Aug 2, 2011 8:55:14pm

re: #4 Slumbering Behemoth

Religious nuts have been pimping this same lie for well over twenty years, and in the last twenty years the world population has grown by 1.7B. That's 1,700,000,000 more living people on the planet then there was twenty years ago.

That clearly puts the lie to the very old an tired 'dying civilization' meme. But it's never been about that with these religious nuts, and they know it's a lie. It's about power, money, and control. And hey, if racist nativists happen to hear a dog-whistle in that lie, the religious nuts are just as happy to take their money and support as they would anyone's.

Well, global birth rates (or, the much more significant factor: fertility rates) have been declining even though world population is still growing (simply meaning that in total more are born than are dying). Last estimates I read stated that world population will plateau around 2020, then start declining.

And that's a good thing for several reasons, some of them spelled out by theheat in #2.

Anyhow, demography is an empirical science, and its data should hardly be controversial except for methodological concerns. Controversy enters in interpretation of the data, subsequent framing of trends as "problems", and their proposed political "solutions".

(I Stand By What I Said Whatever It Was) Tue, Aug 2, 2011 9:00:45pm

This is also a good opp. to point out Longman again. Appeared in an article republished by The Nation a few days after the Norway massacre:

Another commentator, Phillip Longman, is a deliberately counterintuitive face for demographic winter: a policy writer for the center-left Democratic Leadership Council and author of The Empty Cradle: How Falling Birthrates Threaten World Prosperity and What To Do About It. Longman consistently aligns himself with the far right on population issues, which warns that Europe is becoming a continent of the elderly, with death rates exceeding birthrates on the scale of nuclear war. Words for extended family members, he warns--uncle, aunt, even sibling--will disappear as shrinking families render them obsolete. In the rosiest endgame he allows, Longman predicts that the fertile faithful will inherit the earth and that "those who remain will be committed to God." That is, committed to neo-orthodox profamily doctrines condemning contraception as an "abortifacient" and a rejection of God's greatest blessing, children: a theology gaining ground among all branches of Christianity. It's a point Carlson makes frequently, supplementing his "airtight" social science case for traditional values with praise for religious orthodoxy as the "yeast" that will make the family movement rise: compelling people to sacrifice their individual goals to raise large families. In this light, Carlson says, "Secularism is a societal death wish." Or, as Longman puts it, delivering a mournful cosmic punch line to gratified Christian-right audiences, "Your children won't grow up to be secular humanists."

As for those secular humanists--a "sterile" elite Longman sees as too self-absorbed to reproduce--he delivers an ominous ultimatum. Though it's tough for a generation educated to fear the population bomb and value women's rights, gay rights and environmentalism to accept these trends, unless they temper their 1970s notions of individual fulfillment, they'll be among the "certain kinds of human beings" who "are on their way to extinction." Just what the putatively liberal Longman intends by these threats seems to depend on the rationale behind his allegiance to the profamily/demographic winter coalition. While ostensibly he's warning liberals to get in line with "traditional" family morality or else, his presence at the helm of the movement seems targeted toward the conservative choir, reminding them that they have two foes in this battle, two enemies within: a tangible human population expanding within their borders and a sexually liberal frame of mind endemic to modern society.

Yesterday, said Longman on NPR:

The other lesson I take from Breivik is also a theme of much of my writing on global demographics. Societies that are, or that perceive themselves to be, in demographic decline are potentially dangerous, as fear of being outbred and overrun by "others" awakens reactionary sentiment. In the United States during the early decades of the last century, fears of "race suicide," voiced by figures ranging from Theodore Roosevelt to Margaret Sanger, led to the horrors of the eugenics movement, to the revival of the Ku Klux Klan, and to the closing of America's immigration gate until the 1960s. Today, I see a similar dynamic unfolding in the United States and to a much greater extent in Europe and Russia, as low birth rates combine with high rates of immigration to produce a stew of racial fear and resentment that brings with it a resurgence of nationalism, fundamentalism, and a deep backlash against multicultural and progressive values.

(I Stand By What I Said Whatever It Was) Tue, Aug 2, 2011 9:01:45pm

re: #24 000G

And one more paragraph from the NPR article:

Muslim countries, as I wish Breivik had taken time to absorb, are not immune to this phenomenon. As I've written many times, birth rates in Iran have come down so steeply that the Islamic Republic is aging far faster than any country in "old Europe." Meanwhile, birth rates in Tunisia and Lebanon are also below replacement levels, and many other Muslim countries, from Turkey to Morocco, are just on the cusp. For better or for worse, subreplacement fertility is now a condition of modernity, not just of the Western civilization that Breivik proclaims to love even as he slaughters its children.

Prideful, Arrogant Marriage Equality Advocate Tue, Aug 2, 2011 9:24:22pm

re: #25 000G
Excellent article. Thanks.

watching you tiny alien kittens are Tue, Aug 2, 2011 10:04:45pm

re: #4 Slumbering Behemoth

Religious nuts have been pimping this same lie for well over twenty years, and in the last twenty years the world population has grown by 1.7B. That's 1,700,000,000 more living people on the planet then there was twenty years ago.

That clearly puts the lie to the very old an tired 'dying civilization' meme. But it's never been about that with these religious nuts, and they know it's a lie. It's about power, money, and control. And hey, if racist nativists happen to hear a dog-whistle in that lie, the religious nuts are just as happy to take their money and support as they would anyone's.

That would be 1.7 Billion people who ARE NOT WHITE! Since the European birth rate has been below replacement level of the population for quite a while and America also has a declining population minus immigration those of a racist bent take this "threat" very, very, seriously.

"White People" are just going to disappear as a race (somehow) and there will be nothing left but the "degenerate mongrel" races. Who according to the racists have never invented anything nor advanced civilization an inch beyond barbarism without the help of "White People" due to their "limited mental faculties."

It isn't a "Dog Whistle," it isn't hidden racism at all, it is openly stated dozens of times every day on the White Supremacist and Nationalist sites not only in the comments but often in the articles themselves.

WINDUPBIRD DISEASE [S.K.U.M.M.] Tue, Aug 2, 2011 10:09:24pm

re: #2 theheat

don't look now, but Hotair is all conspirarcy crazy about birth control [Link: hotair.com...]

You just gotta love what people will come up with, haha

SanFranciscoZionist Tue, Aug 2, 2011 11:23:07pm

Let us by all means keep our population up by forcing the poor to have more children by taking away their birth control.

We will then have tons more poor people, the poor will find it harder to climb out of poverty because they have more children than they can support while climbing, and we can blame the poor for having been so improvident as to have children they could not provide for.

This sounds like a DANDY recipe for a civilization!!!

(I Stand By What I Said Whatever It Was) Tue, Aug 2, 2011 11:41:19pm

re: #29 SanFranciscoZionist

Let us by all means keep our population up by forcing the poor to have more children by taking away their birth control.

We will then have tons more poor people, the poor will find it harder to climb out of poverty because they have more children than they can support while climbing, and we can blame the poor for having been so improvident as to have children they could not provide for.

This sounds like a DANDY recipe for a civilization!!!

//

Really scary is the idea of political movements that desire large masses of poor, uneducated, miserable people to control. IIRC, the radical Left at the beginning of the 20th century had similar arguments against population control policies targetting proletarian segments of the population. These days, it's the religious Right propagating unhinged procreation. And it's become painfully obvious that they are not in control of the masses they inspired to create.

The real antagonism here is, of course, the one between individual choices and liberties on the one hand and societal changes and the policies controlling them. When the latter wins, power will triumph over freedom.

Shiplord Kirel Wed, Aug 3, 2011 8:22:03am

This is one of the most amazingly stupid things I have ever heard from any elected official anywhere in the world. If everyone used birth control the population would dwindle away? WTF? Of course it would but how does King think the availability of birth control will cause that to happen? Does he assume that people only have babies because they can't afford birth control?

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