You want a totally left world? Let’s think about what that would really look like. How would these policies play out with real people’s lives? The realistic examples below would play out in myriad ways, most with dire consequences to real people’s lives.
Want a $15 minimum wage?
Joe is just out of high school and is making $7.50 an hour in rural Virginia as a dishwasher in a small diner, $15 is doubling Joe’s wage, and it sounds pretty darn good. Joe’s employers, Bill and Grace are upset because they are now going to have to lay one of the two dishwashers off because of this wage increase, and it’ll probably be Joe because he’s not been at the diner as long as Sue has. Bill and Grace were out of business for several months in 2020 because of the pandemic, and they had to borrow money from their bank to pay for COVID moderations to the diner. Right now they are still operating at less than full capacity. They can’t raise their food prices because much of their customer base has income issues due to the pandemic as well. They really like Joe. He is a great worker, but they’re going to have to lay him off and do his job themselves.
Want everyone’s student loans paid off?
Lana is in $80,000 worth of debt from student loans. She struggled in college and changed majors several times. She always took the maximum amount of money from the federally backed loans, so she could better concentrate on her studies rather than having to work through school. Truth be known, she was kind of a partier, and spent most of the “extra” money on food and alcohol and “going out.” Lana would love it if the federal government paid off her loan. Right now, it doesn’t even feel real anyway, since the loan didn’t come due until after the pandemic struck, and she hasn’t had to pay a cent toward it yet. She’s writing for a liberal magazine making pretty good money, and she doesn’t even have to drive into work anymore.
Anna’s parents didn’t have the money to help her through college, but she was determined to be the first person in her family to graduate. She wanted to be a grade school teacher, and she worked hard in high school and got a small scholarship. She lived at home and worked two part-time jobs to pay for what the scholarship did not. It took her six years to get her degree, but she got out debt free, and she’s now a teacher, not paid well but loving what she does; although, it’s been a struggle this past year with school not being in person. She won’t be getting reimbursed for the money she paid for college.
Want open borders?
Shane’s mom died of COVID-19 in a New York State nursing home. He moved to Texas in the summer of 2020 to escape the riots and the strict lockdown restrictions after she passed away. He got a job at a meat packing plant in southern Texas, where the virus had been under control for some time now. His employer hired a couple of unvaccinated migrant workers who came into the country illegally under the Biden administration’s new open border policy. Their presence caused a COVID-19 outbreak at the facility, and Shane is currently in the ICU of the local hospital fighting for his life.
Want to stop “hate” speech?
Denise really got offended at an old friend who posted something about wanting to ban partial birth abortions. It’s my body; my choice, and she complained to Twitter about the post. They agreed and took the post down, but her friend continued making posts about it. It was really out of hand. The woman must be one of those Trumpsters. Denise complained again as well as spread word around the internet that the woman was a troll. Twitter finally suspended the woman, and Denise was satisfied until she noticed another old friend talking about banning all guns. What gives them the right to take her only defense away? Denise lived alone and had been sexually abused in the past. No way was she giving up her right to a gun. Denise replied to the post defending her second amendment rights. The original poster called her a monster who wanted blood in the streets and doxxed Denise by giving out her home address. The anti-gun mobs came to her house last night and protested until 2am, and Twitter suspended her account yesterday.
Want the confiscation of all guns and to defund the police?
Raheem is a law abiding citizen, so when the government ordered a buy back of all guns, he complied, though not willingly. He owns a small gas station, and they had been robbed several times in the past couple of years. He always kept a gun under the counter, and he had actually thwarted two of the robberies last year by brandishing it. Since thieves will know that most businesses will be unarmed, Raheem feared they would get much bolder, so he asked the local police station for an extra patrol at 1:00AM, the average time the other robberies occured. Unfortunately, since cutting back on salaries and manpower, the police weren’t able to do the patrol and suggested getting an alarm system with a silent button that would notify the police in case anything happened. Raheem took their advice and installed the system; however, three nights after putting it in, a woman came in with a large man who seemed to be harassing her. She was trying to move past him in the store, that angered him, and he pulled her by the hair. Raheem pushed the silent alarm, hoping the police were nearby. The couple were arguing angrily and loudly, and the man began beating the woman in the face with his fist. Raheem was an older gentleman and not really a fighter, but he couldn’t just watch the man beat up the woman like that.
Want to shame children for their skin color?
Coca-Cola now wants white people to “act less white,” whatever that means, and 7-year-old Ian doesn’t understand what is wrong with the color of his skin, but it must be bad because teachers and companies and tv shows tell him not to be white. Other colors are better than his. He’s not sure how to change colors, but he sure wants to. He wishes he could be a chameleon. His mother found Ian painting his face brown in his bedroom this afternoon.
Want men competing against women in sports?
In spite of the worrisome tales of women in sports who have been physically harmed by their transgender opponents as well as losing championship opportunities to them, Cicily was determined it wouldn’t stop her. At 5 feet 11 inches, she was the tallest girl in her new school, and she had been playing basketball her entire life. Jamie, a male player at the same school, though tall, was just a mediocre player on the male basketball team. He had always dreamt of getting a basketball scholarship to his favorite school, but things were looking bleaker and bleaker for him. With the new transgender rules, he got the crazy idea of getting that scholarship as a transgender and playing on the girls’ team. The girls were pretty good, but none of them were 6 feet 3 inches like he was. What the heck, he used to like dressing up in his older sister’s clothes. He could do it again. Besides, they would let him into the girls’ locker room.
Like the childish dreams of AOC’s Green New Deal, leftist superficial ideas may sound nice on the surface, but we can’t close our eyes to the real lives these policies will surely affect. We must make sure we follow the natural ramifications out to the bitter end before we decide a new idea is okay. There are always unintended consequences.
