Addressing the Trump administration’s assault on efforts to prevent teenage pregnancy, the New York Times commentary demolishes the administration’s stated rationales. But Trump and team’s underlying motivation is also suspect, and goes beyond any religious objections to contraception.

In the short-term, the economic elite might subvert democracy by subverting the press. How would they do it in the long-term? Various theorists might have noted that higher teen pregnancy rates translate into more consumers with less education. Over time, a less educated populace provides cheaper labor, higher profits, and a more easily manipulated electorate.

The 1% don’t benefit from a smaller and better-educated populace.

Babies are big business, with advertisers exploiting the appeal of infancy and motherhood to sell more and more products. If the economic elite can subjugate young women and force them to spend more at the same time, it’s a double windfall.

Like the European monarchs and oligarchs of old, Trump and his big consumptive family embody an unevolved and unsustainable model of domination and proliferation. Their example is harmful environmentally, socially, and politically.

How do we get rid of it? We can lead by example with a better model that says “I actually give a damn about children, equality, other species, and the future. I’m not just in this for myself and the narcissism of my bloodline.”

Want change? Change people. To do that, we need to start before the very beginning of life. Let’s make a Fair Start the very core of our thinking.