One of the hallmarks of modern politics is that everything, and I mean EVERYTHING is partisan.

A refrain from Second Wave feminism of the 1960’s was “the personal is political.”  This is an extension of what the Soviet author, Boris Pasternak, said about the Soviet Union, “the private life is dead.”

Everything is made political, and then partisan, and then is used to beat the other side into submission.  The problem with this is that it makes it reduces problems into partisan talking points and makes it impossible to do good.

Yesterday was National Period Day.  I don’t care about that, there is a national day for everything.

What I do care about is how the radical Left used periods as a weapon in the worst way possible, rather than address a real issue in a meaningful way.

The first thing that jumped out at me was the number of complaints about the cost of feminine hygiene products.

By 2019, feminism has gone from Rosie the Riviter saying “We can do it!” to Helen Reddy singing “I am women, hear me roar” to women in Twitter saying that it’s not fair that they have to buy tampons and men don’t so the government should have to provide them for free.

Imagine not having to carry around tampons and pads because you know every bathroom would have period products. What a dream. #NationalPeriodDay pic.twitter.com/QL8UG78eZG

— Seyi Akiwowo (@seyiakiwowo) October 19, 2019

https://twitter.com/LesleyHandel/status/1185610737584091137

I don’t need her blue lipstick and bangs to tell me that she’s single.

I’ve been doing this for more than a decade.  As the primary breadwinner of the family, I pay for what goes in the grocery cart every week, hygiene products included.  I have to buddies whose wives are both stay at home moms, so they are in the same boat and for about the same amount of time.

But in partisan, feminist politics, husbands who jut buy the things their wives need don’t exist and so this need to be turned into an attack on men.

The conversation (diatribe) on the cost of hygiene products usually shifts into how they are taxed as “luxury items” and not necessities, and how that is sexist and having a period is not a “luxury.”

The Pink Tax is in full effect in 35 states (Virginia too). This tax is imposed on feminine hygiene products. In 2019, this is STILL considered a “luxury” not a NECESSITY. This madness needs to END. Stop shaming women for bleeding & having insufficient means. #nationalperiodday pic.twitter.com/vsTdIaD8Xn

— ? (@hotAMALy) October 20, 2019

On average, people who menstruate spend an estimated $150 million a year just on the sales tax for tampons and pads.

Now, there’s a push to outlaw the so-called “tampon tax” across the U.S. (@hereandnow) #NationalPeriodDay https://t.co/F8Y89773Vz

— NPR (@NPR) October 19, 2019

Menstrual equity = health care = a human right. This is a fact for over 50% of our population. Menstrual hygiene products are NOT, nor ever were, a “luxury” item. It's past time to end #PeriodPoverty for all of us and #EndthePinkTax. #NationalPeriodDay https://t.co/QPkdT3kTDA

— Rep. Barbara Lee (@RepBarbaraLee) October 18, 2019

Of course, a sitting member of Congress and the people at NPR have no idea how taxes work.  That shouldn’t surprise me.  Nither should the lying about this topic.

To paraphrase the words of Dean Wormer “ignorant, self-righteous, and angry is no way to go through life.”

First of all, we need to address some basic tax lingo.  Items are classified three ways, necessities, luxury items, and excise items.  In tax language “luxury” doesn’t mean luxury the way we use it to describe other items like “luxury cars.”  Luxury items are subject so excise or sin taxes, like alcohol and tobacco.

Also, there is no specific tax on feminine hygiene products.  As consumer goods, they are potentially subject to state taxes.  Some states, tax them, others don’t because of their status as luxury goods.  

Different taxes tax different items in different ways.  I have lived in two of the three states that tax groceries at the regular sales tax rate.

The Huffington Post published an article in which it listed other goods that most of us would consider necessities but the government classifies as luxuries.  These include soap, shampoo, toothpaste and toothbrushes, and diapers.

One way that this attack goes even further is to compare the taxes on tampons and Viagra.

Menstrual hygiene is a right, not a privilege. We are the Menstrual Movement — fighting for equitable access to menstrual hygiene and breaking down the stigma surrounding periods. Join us TODAY at 2pm on the Northrop Plaza at UMN! #NationalPeriodDay pic.twitter.com/3fBSQcgKt7

— Reviving Sisterhood (@RISEsisterhood) October 19, 2019

That is because Viagra is a prescription medication and tampons are off the shelf consumer goods.  Those are classed differently.

There are two states, by the way, that tax prescription drugs.  I lived in one.  Most states tax non-prescription drugs.

So again, different items sold in different ways have different tax classifications.

As a Republican, I am all for lowering taxes, and I happy to entertain a conversation about needing to reclassify all hygiene products for tax-exempt status.  That includes, but is not limited to feminine hygiene products.

Rather than having a friendly conversation about what items should be tax-exempt, they have decided to make this into a partisan issue that is used as a cudgel against men.

I guess they have to do this because they need to push this in the direction of pandering with free shit.

In detention centers and in prisons, in big cities and small towns, women across America don’t have access to the period products they need. On #NationalPeriodDay, men need to join women in demanding real change—which is why I’m supporting the Menstrual Equity Act.

— Beto O'Rourke (@BetoORourke) October 19, 2019

Fuck me, a Democrat is pushing an equity act, that means its going to be fuck-ass expensive.

What does the H.R.1882 – Menstrual Equity For All Act of 2019 do?  It requires that free hygiene products be provided to all students in public schools, in all bathrooms in federal buildings, to covered by Medicaid, and that every private employer with more than 100 employees provide them for free to employees.

This is going to be very expensive.  Especially forcing it on private employers.

If there is a concern about “period poverty” – the new thought-terminating buzzword about the cost of hygiene products to poor people – I have a better solution.

Allow hygiene products to be purchased using EBT.  The Republicans have been chomping at the bit for EBT reform for years.

I’ll make this trade in a heartbeat, hygiene products – soap, shampoo, dental items, toilet paper, diapers, tampons, etc. – can be purchased with EBT and we remove items like soda and candy from EBT.

But the point isn’t to negotiate, it’s to make issues partisan and win everything.

Lastly, because it’s 2019, every third Tweet to this hashtag was a reminder that:

Hey. Hey you.

Periods are a ridiculous thing to be exclusionary about.

Nobody likes periods. Stop excluding trans, intersex and enby people from this discussion. Stop harassing them for participating. It’s weird. You’re being a jerk.#NationalPeriodDay

— Erynn Brook (@ErynnBrook) October 20, 2019

https://twitter.com/nayeonIuvbot/status/1185720636737576964

And:

Periods aren’t just a “feminine” issue. https://t.co/6iM7mLiDS2 #NationalPeriodDay #MEforAll

— Reproductive Freedom for All (@reproforall) October 19, 2019

Sometimes a Tweet manages to capture all this in one:

What's that? #NationalPeriodDay?

Not all women menstruate.

Not everyone who menstruates is a woman.

Periods are pretty miserable for a lot of people, but especially for people in extreme poverty / war zones / etc.

Luxury tax on mandatory products is ridiculous.

— Alix Weasel (@AlixWzl) October 20, 2019

This is just Woke browbeating over the 0.4% of society that is trans/non-binary.

I know I could be a Republican Congressman and say “I agree, that it is difficult for poor women who struggle financially to buy the hygiene products that they need, I’m happy to add them and other hygiene products to the what can be purchased using existing EBT and WIC benefits.”

And that rather than it be acknowledged that I’m trying to do some good, I will be savaged by the Left for implying that only women have periods.

Something like this shouldn’t be corrosively partisan, but that is what the Left has done, and it is beyond stupid and ugly.