April 2009

–It’s easy to be against taxes and against government, but Somalia can be a lesson—Now that we’ve paid our federal taxes, getting reading for the next round of property taxes, and in a state like California are being subjected to an increase in sales tax, it’s easy to be angry and question the whole principle. Since it’s logical to associate taxes with government the anger extends to both, government and taxes. It’s politically expedient for some to try to capitalize on this anger whether or not they participated in the April 15th tea parties, and try to fight both the idea of taxes and that of government. And yet, at the same time that we read about those angry taxpayers we can also read about Somalia, a totally failed state, ruled by anarchy and breeding pirates, terrorists and several generations who have never known civil order of any kind. Despite the fact that it is and extreme and dire instance, it is nevertheless an example of what happens when there is no government and no taxes to make sure the government does what it is supposed to.
Let’s hope we can learn from the lesson Somalia represents and apply it to our next round of protest against government and taxes.

–The monetary value of certain artists may have gone down, but the value of their art remains–The economic crisis has hit the art world. Art prices have decreased by about 35%, particularly the work of postwar artists whose price tags had previously gone up along with the stock market. Andy Warhol is in that category. His portrait of Mick Jagger recently sold for $1.1 million. The seller had bought it in 2006 for $1.5 million. The work of old masters has, however, not gone down quite as steeply.
Does the value of art really depend on its price tag? Is Warhol less Warhol because his portrait of Mick Jagger sold for less? Is the painting less striking, interesting or unique? The price tag may make a collector feel good, even feed his or her ego. It may contribute to the investment potential of the art world, but it does not reflect the true value of art. Monetary value may be expedient in a world which no longer knows how to get along without money, but those of us who try to see to the core of things need to remember that monetary value and true value travel along different trajectories.

–The correlation between family planning and development in the Third World is strong enough that it does lead one to ask if access to contraceptives ought not to be a human right– For the last few decades “population projects”, as they’re called among development professionals, have been like ping pong balls bouncing according to the policies of U.S administrations and whether or not they were in agreement with the views of right to life activists on the subject. Meanwhile family planning and development in the Third World seem to underscore a correlation long known in academic and women’s rights circles. The United Nations estimates there are some 200 million women in the world, mainly in developing countries, who have “an unmet need” for effective contraception. Demographers estimate that this unmet need leads to 70 to 80 million unwanted pregnancies each year, along with 150,000 maternal deaths and 19 million abortions—all of which could be changed through the availability of effective contraception.
President Obama has lifted the ban on aid for the Population Fund, and those running women’s or health clinics are learning that to offer effective contraception is more than just giving women a pill or an IUD. Not only must the right method for them be available, they need counseling, follow up, and most of all to be treated with dignity—all reinforcing what many already know, that the education of women is a basis for development.
It may be that access to contraceptives ought to be a woman’s right.