Autism Registries and Baby Bonuses
Welcome to The Upside Down
Recently, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. made the following remark about children with autism:
"They'll never pay taxes, they'll never hold a job, they'll never play baseball, they'll never write a poem, they'll never go out on a date. Many of them will never use a toilet unassisted."
After going on to say that autism “destroys families,” Kennedy promised to launch a definitive study into autism and to have a cause identified by September. You can imagine the outcry from families with autistic children and family members. Kennedy, of course, failed to acknowledge that those with Autism Spectrum Disorder fall on a spectrum that encompasses a “broad range of conditions characterized by challenges with social skills, repetitive behaviors, speech and nonverbal communication.” Many with autism go on to lead happy, fulfilling lives.
And now, Kennedy has announced that he’s going to launch a “disease registry” that will track children with autism. And guess what? He’s going to be using private records to make it happen. First of all, Autism isn’t a disease. You can’t catch it, and people with autism can’t infect others. Second of all, the notion of singling out a subsection of the population and accessing their private medical records stinks of eugenics and must certainly be a gross violation of HIPAA laws.
“The National Institutes of Health is helping to collect private medical records from government and commercial databases to give to the secretary of health and human services, NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya said Monday. The records include prescription records from pharmacies, lab testing, and genomics records from the Department of Veterans Affairs and Indian Health Service, private insurance claims, and data from smartwatches and fitness trackers.”
Genomics records, or genomic data, are detailed collections of information about an individual's DNA. The records include data about a person’s genes, gene variants, and their locations.
In addition, the NIH is also working to broaden agreements with Medicaid and Medicare to obtain data that “select outside researchers will be able to access and study, but not download.”
Oh. My. God.
We’ve officially entered the dystopian phase of the administration where “The Upside Down” has become reality, and any semblance of normalcy, privacy, protocol, and legality is deemed obsolete and thoroughly discarded.
Kennedy has long been a vaccine skeptic and has hired David Geier, a discredited researcher, to investigate debunked claims linking autism to vaccines. Geire himself, has previously promoted the debunked theory that vaccines cause autism. This is undoubtedly a conflict of interest. It’s all but assured that Geier’s findings will confirm both his, and Kennedy’s biases.
And if things couldn’t get more Orwellian, the Trump Administration has announced they are considering giving a $5,000 "baby bonus" to American mothers after they give birth.
“The White House has been fielding proposals aimed at persuading people to marry and have children, an effort being pushed by outside groups focused on increasing the nation's birth rate after years of decline.”
Trump says it sounds like “a good idea to me.”
You know who else thought awards for childbirth were a good idea? Adolf Hitler.
“Adolf Hitler first conferred a similar honor on German mothers of eight or more children in 1939, calling it the Cross of Honour of the German Mother. (Naturally, Jews were not among the 3 million women who received the medal between 1939 and 1944.)” Joseph Stalin rolled out a similar program in The Soviet Union in 1944.
The Trump Administration’s push to increase birth rates isn’t new. Republicans have been calling for this for years. In part, this push comes from what they fear is “the browning of America.” I don’t make this claim to be controversial. For quite some time, Republicans and conservative pundits have echoed these fears, some going as far as pushing “Replacement Theory.”
“Wilders understands that culture and demographics are our destiny. We can't restore our civilization with somebody else's babies. This is an effort on the left, I think, to break down the American civilization, the American culture and turn it into something entirely different. I’m a champion for Western civilization.” - Steve King (R-IA) 2017
"Massive demographic changes have been foisted upon the American people and they're changes that none of us ever voted for and most of us don't like. From Virginia to California, we see stark examples of how radically in some ways the country has changed. Now, much of this is related to both illegal and in some cases, legal immigration that, of course, progressives love." - FOX commentator, Laura Ingraham 2018
"Another thing that Dr. Johnson talked about is the 'Browning of America,' that America is fast becoming — we're going to look like South American countries very quickly," - Sylvia Allen (R-AZ) 2019
“For many Americans, what seems to be happening or what they believe right now is happening is, what appears to them is we’re replacing national-born Americans, native-born Americans to permanently transform the landscape of this very nation," - Scott Perry (R-PA) 2021
According to a 2016 article by NPR, “the country is changing — it's getting browner, as population growth slows among whites. Non-whites now make up a majority of kindergartners; by the next presidential election, the Census Bureau predicts they will be a majority of all children; and by 2044, no one racial group will be a majority of the country.”
That article is nearly 10 years old, but the fact remains, the US population continues to shrink, especially among the white population. This poses a significant problem for the Republican Party as their base consists largely of white, working-class voters, a demographic that is also shrinking. In fact, since 1980, this group of Republican voters has shrunk by a third.
At the same time, the pool of non-white voters continues to grow at a pace that will soon eclipse white working-class voters. In the 2020 election, white voters made up roughly 67% of the vote. That was down nearly 3% from 2016 in which white voters made up about 70% of Republican voters.
While the 2024 election saw the white vote rebound back to 70%, some analysts believe this may have been the result of renewed enthusiasm for Trump’s candidacy. The 2028 presidential election will shed a better light on whether 2024 was an anomaly or a trend back in a direction that favors Republicans.
The Democratic Party has done a fairly good job adapting to demographic changes in the United States. They have traditionally been a big-tent, and continue to increase diversity and inclusion within the party and champion the liberal values that have come to define their party and attract voters. Republicans on the other hand, have had a difficult time adapting, and have responded instead, by purging voters and implementing other voter suppression tactics. In lieu of platform adjustments, these methods may work in the short term. However, if Republicans want to rebuild a lasting base, they're going to need more than just parlor tricks.
Given the fear among Republicans that their base is shrinking, it’s completely plausible that Trump’s push for a modern day baby boom is rooted in a desire to rejuvinate this base. This raises a question: who will the administration choose to exclude from their $5,000 baby bonuses? The answer would likely include any group that traditionally supports the Democratic Party.
In the face of growing demographic shifts and a rapidly evolving electorate, the Republican Party seems to be mounting an authoritarian and exclusionary approach to preserve its diminishing influence. From Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s dehumanizing and scientifically incorrect comments about autism, to the gathering of American’s personal health data, and the revival of state-sponsored child birth incentives, the Trump Administration has embraced an authoritarian approach to governing reminiscent to that found in the dystopian novels of the 20th century. Rather than embracing the diversity and nuance of 21st century America, the current administration seems intent on re-shaping the nation through fear, misinformation, and control. If democracy is to thrive in the United States, its policies must not oppress, but instead, uplift the marginalized and vulnerable among us.