When 3% is 90%

Among the reasons Republicans gave for the almost shutdown of the government was abortion. Or more specifically, they wanted to defund that perennial friend to women and enemy of conservatives -- Planned Parenthood. What is PP's crime? Offering advice on abortions to women, of course. But more than that, according to one congressman, 90% of funding went to abortions. Is that true? Well, kind of. In the hyperreal world in which we live, where fact and fiction are essentially the same thing, 90% is close enough to 3%, isn't it (Chart)? Does any federal money actually go to abortions? Actually, the answer is no! What do Title X funds fund? Pelvic exams and pap smears, infertility screening, breast exams, testing for high blood pressure, anemia and diabetes, screening and treatment for STDs and safe-sex counseling. PP does, of course, also provide contraceptives, family planning services and, yes, abortions. But the federal government doesn't fund these services.

So what is the attempt to shut down the government really about? It is just the latest parry in the continued attempts to undermine the role of government in actually improving the lives of citizens. Essentially the goal is the fundamental rewriting of the social contract. Governments were formed to provide security to citizens, but also to serve their interests. Representative democracy is, in fact, founded on the idea that representatives will actually, gasp, represent the interests of their constituents. Yet that idea has clearly become passe in a world ruled by multinational corporations and their technocratic, ideological and political stewards. Rather than the government serving the interests of the average person, they serve the interests of the "market," an entity that essentially serves the interests of elites. Today, deficits and fear serve as the predominant mechanism to legitimate a system proven illegitimate by the latest financial crisis, and the reality of the past 30 years. Its ideological foundation rests on less and less firm ground. So what is a market acolyte to do? Continue to spew the myths with increased stridency, even as those myths become little more than fairy tales with nightmare endings. Use the media to back these arguments with spurious claims and outright lies. Close off spaces for people to become informed and actually debate the key issues of our times. Reduce education to serving the economic interests of the country. And act as if the status quo is inevitable and their is no alternative to the declining living standard of most denizens of the country and globe. How long can this strategy work? Only as long as enough people are comfortable enough to accept it and the rest ignore their power to demand better (through the very government they are taught to distrust and/or despise) ...