NOTE: The following is a response
to “A Day in the Life of Joe Republican,” meant to demonstrate the usefulness
of Progressive policies in everyday life. The original is in italics, and my
“re-write” is in bold.
Joe gets up at 6 a.m. and fills his coffeepot with water to
prepare his morning coffee.
Joe gets up at 6 a.m. to prepare his morning coffee. Then he
remembers that he doesn’t have any real coffee. All the coffee beans are now
Free Trade and Organic, so he can’t afford to buy them anymore. He measures out
the instant coffee powder into his mug and fills it with water.
The water is clean and good because some tree-hugging liberal
fought for minimum water-quality standards.
The water trickles very slowly into the mug because his kitchen
is equipped with low-flow faucets, as per the new regulations. After a couple
of minutes, the mug is full and he heats the coffee in the microwave.
With his first swallow of coffee, he takes his daily medication.
His medications are safe to take because some stupid commie liberal fought to
insure their safety and that they work as advertised.
With his first swallow of coffee, he takes his daily medication.
It’s not as effective as the one he used to take, but FDA banned the medication
that worked for him because it could cause miscarriages. Joe tried to explain
to his doctor that he was not in danger of a miscarriage, but there was nothing
to be done.
All but $10 of his medications are paid for by his employer's
medical plan because some liberal union workers fought their employers for paid
medical insurance - now Joe gets it too.
The medication used to only have a $10 co-pay, but now Joe has
to pay $50 because the union negotiated the new insurance plan that covers
in-vitro fertilization for female employees, and the cost had to be made up by
reducing pharmacy coverage.
He prepares his morning breakfast, bacon and eggs. Joe's bacon
is safe to eat because some girly-man liberal fought for laws to regulate the
meat packing industry.
He prepares his morning breakfast, a bowl of organic oatmeal. He
misses his eggs and bacon, but a carton of eggs is $10 at his local supermarket
because the eggs came from free range chickens who only eat organic corn. Bacon
is illegal in his town because it offends his Muslim neighbors.
In the morning shower, Joe reaches for his shampoo. His bottle
is properly labeled with each ingredient and its amount in the total contents
because some crybaby liberal fought for his right to know what he was putting
on his body and how much it contained.
In the morning shower, Joe reaches for his shampoo. It doesn’t
clean his hair very well, but it’s made of bio-degradable vegetable based
ingredients that are safe for the local wildlife. He takes care to finish the
shower after 2 minutes to comply with the city water restrictions.
Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. The air he
breathes is clean because some environmentalist wacko liberal fought for laws
to stop industries from polluting our air.
Joe dresses, walks outside and takes a deep breath. He coughs
from inhaling the car exhaust fumes. His street is now much more crowded with
cars because one of the two lanes is reserved for bikes. It’s the middle of
winter so no one is riding a bike, but the law still applies.
He walks to the subway station for his government-subsidized
ride to work. It saves him considerable money in parking and transportation
fees because some fancy-pants liberal fought for affordable public
transportation, which gives everyone the opportunity to be a contributor.
He walks to the subway station and sticks the Metro Card into
the slot. It’s rejected because the fare just went up again and he needs to
re-charge the card more often. Luckily, he has plenty of time because the
loudspeaker just said something about a delay, and judging by the crowd on the
platform, he may not even get into the next train anyway. Joe had to give up
his car last year because the new 35% parking tax at the garage. At least he
doesn’t have to worry about gas prices going up. The thought energizes him
enough to push his way through the crowd and make it inside the train just
before the doors slide shut.
Joe begins his work day. He has a good job with excellent pay,
medical benefits, retirement, paid holidays and vacation because some lazy
liberal union members fought and died for these working standards. Joe's
employer pays these standards because Joe's employer doesn't want his employees
to call the union.
Joe begins his work day. He’s an excellent worker, but only
received a 2% increase last year because he reached the top of his pay grade
and can now only get inflation adjustments. His usual partner has been on paid
leave for the last week to take care of a sick pet. The union fought very hard
for that concession, and Joe was happy when they won. Now he’s not very happy
because he needs to cover the station on with a less experienced employee, but
it’s worth it to have the union benefits for everyone.
Joe is home from work… He turns on a radio talk show. The radio
host keeps saying that liberals are bad and conservatives are good. He doesn't
mention that the beloved Republicans have fought against every protection and
benefit Joe enjoys throughout his day.
Joe is home from work. He turns on the evening news. The news
anchor keeps saying that conservatives are bad and liberals are good. He
doesn’t mention that the beloved Democrats have passed laws and regulations
that caused many of the difficulties and sacrifices Joe faces throughout the
day.
Joe agrees: "We don't need those big-government liberals
ruining our lives! After all, I'm a self-made man who believes everyone should
take care of themselves, just like I have."
Joe agrees: “It’s a good thing we don’t have those free-market
conservatives in charge! After all, I’m just a regular man who believes the
government should make everyone’s lives easier, just like they’ve done for me.”
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