Joe vs. The Progressive (from The Pubcrawler)

Relevant to Walmart and Maryland.

http://pubcrawler.blogspot.com/ from July 17, 2006
Joe vs. The Progressive
Joe is a poor man. He lives in a thrid world country with his son and daughter. He works at a local factory. The work is hard and he labors at it for 60 hours per week. But it puts food on the table, a roof over his head, and he still has enough left over to go school at night. It is a tough life but it works. He does it so his kids will have a better future.Then one day The Progressive arrives. The Progressive is shocked by what he sees. “It is unconscionable that this man is forced to work 60 hours a week!” declares The Progressive. Joe knows it is his choice to work 60 hours and that it was better than toiling away at subsistence farming. Nevertheless The Progressive pushes through a reform that only allows a 40 hour week.So now Joe is forced to take a one-third pay cut. The ends are not meeting anymore. However, his two kids are old enough to work some so he gets them jobs at the local factory. 10 hours a week each for his son and daughter and that will make up for the lost wages. After all, kids in subsistance farming families work all day.But it was not to be. The Progressive came to the factory one day and declared, “It is unconscionable that children are forced to work here!” Joe knows his children are not forced to work here. But to make ends meet the decision was made that they should. Nevertheless, the kids are sent home and Joe is faced with financial troubles again. In order to set things straight, Joe gives up night school. It is a tough decision but he has to decide between food for his kids and his own education. So he stopped going to school.Once again The Progressive has arrived and declared, “It is unconscionable that workers here make as little as they do and only have limited health care at the local clinic! The factory owners must raise wages and pay for more healthcare!” Joe knows that he used to make enough when he worked 60 hours a week and he used to make enough when his two kids were working. He also knows that the local clinic has always been a private charity. He also knows about supply and demand and that when the price of something is artificially driven up, the demand for that goes down. So he is not all that surprised when he is laid off. The reason given is that labor costs have risen and because he no longer attends classes.So Joe goes to another nearby factory to look for a job. He finds it boarded up. That factory left town and there are even more unemployed people there.Things have gotten desperate for Joe. He can barely provide food for his kids anymore. They are constantly sick. The local clinic is overwhelmed with unemployed people from the lay-offs and the closed factories. The Progressive applauds that the UN has come by as a relief agency and works with the local government to provide aid. But the local government is corrupt and the aid goes to government cronies and not to him. It is a terrible situation. His daughter now prostitutes herself for a sordid under-age sex tourism trade. His son couriers drugs for the local thugs who see to it that the boy uses the drugs too. Poverty stricken and heartbroken at the situation of his family, Joe succumbs to illness and dies.The Progressive comes to Joe’s funeral to comfort the son and daughter. Does The Progressive see the havoc he has wrought and beg forgiveness from Joe’s kids? No. The Progressive calls them over and tells them, “This is what happens when you let free market capitalism exploit you! If you will only follow my leadership, I will keep you safe from them.”And that is how liberty gets turned into government run slavery. “You can have our freedom if only you promise to feed us,” replies Joe’s kids.