Many of you have likely heard about this by now. I have yet to see any diaries on it though, so I thought I'd post something for those who may have missed it. (I also found some interesting statistics as well)
Rep. John LaBruzzo (R), second-term state rep. of Louisiana's 81st district, is definitely not the first idiot to suggest forced sterilization of the poor, and I highly doubt that he'll be the last. It still didn't prevent me from being absolutely floored and horrified when I saw his views expressed in a short video from msnbc.com. He claims that he's received a stack of letters since he's introduced his idea, and that those in agreement with him outnumber the disagrees by nearly 2 to 1. (Frightening, but again, not that surprising...there are lots of crazy people out there) I've since tracked down a few more stories about this guy and his "plan" and I'd like to share some of the quotes and figures I found...
Basically LaBruzzo's plan involves giving each poor woman $1,000 to sterilize herself...either by getting her tubes tied, or perhaps through an IUD birth control device.
From a story on NOLA.com, here is a quote from LaBruzzo on why this is needed:
"We're on a train headed to the future and there's a bridge out, " LaBruzzo said of what he suspects are dangerous demographic trends. "And nobody wants to talk about it."
The other part of the demographic trend: that wealthy college-educated families aren't having enough children. So the solution is to give them money to have more kids (likely in the form of tax breaks)!
Did this guy see the movie Idiocracy and mistakenly believe it was a documentary?
LaBruzzo even goes so far as to accuse Democrats of wanting the poor to have more children, because that equals more votes for them. An exact quote from the msnbc interview:
"other people on the other polical side who like the situation just the way it is. 'Cause what they produce is voters for them."
The story from NOLA.com says that the plan has been considered "racist, sexist, unethical and immoral." He swears that he is not racist, because the majority of welfare recipients are white women. As for the sexist, unethical and immoral part...he does not appear to argue with those charges! According to LaBruzzo, this is a crisis in the making - soon those on welfare will outnumber those that pay taxes.
Supposedly this sterilization concept is a "brain-storming" exercise that has not been formally brought before the legislature. In fact, LaBruzzo himself was not familiar with the amount of women on welfare in Louisiana. He just seems to figure that the problem is getting worse, and that something must be done. Giving $1,000 to each woman is a bargain when you consider how much the state pays them in welfare (in his mind).
It turns out, that in the past 18 years, the number of people on welfare in Louisiana has plummeted. In the fiscal year of 1990-91, there were on average 280,177 people on welfare each month; that number was 13,504 in 2006-07. At the beginning of this period, the state spent an average of $187.2 million on welfare, by 2006-07 it was down to $16.5 million. (A figure that was actually less than the figure legislators earmarked for "pet projects," according to NOLA.com) This drop is credited primarily to the 1996 welfare reforms.
Every time I hear someone like this, it just makes me sick. I wish there were less jerks in the world (like Rep. LaBruzzo) but I'm not suggesting that people like him are sterilized to lower the number of idiots on the planet. He's just spouting off a very controlling, scary policy without even checking his facts. Welfare payments have dropped by over $150 million, and recipients number more than 250,000 less than just 18 years ago.
If you're interested in further reading or viewing, here are a few links to stories and video:
Story about proposed program
Facts on welfare in Louisiana
Video on story