Your government at work: adding sesame to things but not for flavor. No, Virginia, not all Republicans focus on culture wars first--survey results to look at.
Bakers are adding sesame to a lot of things and, no, it ain’t for flavor.
Those making policy often forget a couple things:
1. Their policy can have consequences beyond those intended
2. Life is a multi-player game and changing the rules means the players will change their strategies to maximize their outcomes.
I heard about the story below on the radio the other day (NPR) and looked it up when I got home. It's not quite a Colorado-specific story, but the themes here apply just as well to Colorado.
That is, the same dynamic happens in our state's policy, and that's why it's relevant.
Apparently, there are some people (about 0.5% of the population by the article's stats and looking up the US population) who have a severe allergy to sesame. They have been lobbying the Feds for a while now to add sesame to the list of ingredients that must be on the label if a product contains it. The Feds recently assented, passing a law to do just that. Sesame, if it's in something, must now be on the label.
Reasonable enough. However, the requirements as to the quantity of sesame are so stringent that rather than having to build a completely separate line to process baked goods so that sesame can be left of the label, bakeries are intentionally adding a bit of sesame to everything so they can label it as an ingredient and be in compliance.
Not enough for taste or texture reasons, merely to make sure it qualifies as an ingredient and thus they can label it as such and not worry about lawsuits.
Do you imagine the lawmakers (presumably bipartisan) that wrote and voted for this bill imagined this would happen? Do you suppose they consulted the bakers at the same time as those with allergies prior to enacting this law?
The irony here, piled on top of the nonsense, is that the law has ended up hurting those with allergies. Perhaps prior to the law companies could have minimized sesame to a certain level and those with allergies could have tolerated what little bit was there. Now, however, there is enough added sesame to make the food dangerous and the practice greatly shortens the list of things those with an allergy can consume.
Knowing all this, I want you to imagine how much worse a dynamic like this would be in a state where there was one-party control of all the levers of power in the government. And not just that, but one-party control where the party in power makes it a habit to NOT listen to those who might have contradictory ideas or to those who might be trying to inform them of the adverse consequences of their actions.
Oh wait, such a state already exists ...
https://apnews.com/article/sesame-allergies-label-b28f8eb3dc846f2a19d87b03440848f1
No Virginia, Republicans aren't the monsters the left-leaning media like to portray ...
I am not a registered Republican (was Libertarian since age 18, but I switched to Independent when I learned that Libertarians are not allowed on the redistricting committee), but I am socially and fiscally conservative, so I would consider many Republicans to be "birds of a feather".
The survey linked below is from a group called More In Common (their site is linked second below). I see the folks on Twitter from time to time (esp when someone appears on CPR to be interviewed by Ryan Warner). I'll be honest, I'm a little bit questioning as to this group.
I'm most definitely behind the idea that we have much more in common than different, but when I see and read the materials they produce or when I read what the representative says to Mr. Warner at CPR, I have the distinct impression that, at worst, this group thinks the way we come together is by having everyone see things their way or, at best, that the organization has few to no conservatives working there
That is, at best, they're a little like reading something Bill Gates wrote about living in poverty. It's not like Bill Gates can't understand poverty, it's just that he has no lived experience with it and thus cannot ever deliver a full picture.
Nonetheless, the survey linked first below was intriguing and worth sharing. I will not comment on its validity or accuracy. I wanted to share it with you, however, for what is said therein as counterpoint to the typical narrative about Republicans (and, likely conservatives in general).
The relentless narrative you get from the left-leaning media frequently highlights an obsession with culture war issues, but this impression would really only make sense if you talked to the loudest voices in the room (and you get the same thing when, say, Fox news only talks to the loudest Progressives in the room).
Reality is a little more complex. The screenshots attached show the results from the survey starting on p 22.
The overall sense is the one that I get in talking to everyday people. I think by and large, they just want things to work. They want to feed their children and have some left over. They want to feel secure. They want the heat to come on in the winter. They want the government off their back and out of their hair so they can live their lives.
And I think they are growing tired of constant uproar. I think they're less interested in snappy comebacks than all these other things.
Now, focus in specifically on screenshot #5. All of what I wrote above needs to be considered in the light of what you see there. Putting aside some ambiguity in the survey question (I think working with people from across the aisle needs to have a finer point put on it), I think most folks I talk to echo what you see in #5: I don't think conservatives and Republicans want a pushover. Maybe not a demagogue who cannot and will not see other perspectives or compromise, but not a doormat either.
In short, I think what many want is something I've heard expressed from more than one individual: they want a statesman or stateswoman.
If this sounds like you, you’re not alone or unique. If this sounds like you, I urge you to speak up more often.
Do not allow yourself to be defined by anyone else, because that's all too often the goal.
Roll everyone up into the same "basket of deplorables" and toss you out the Overton Window together.
https://www.moreincommon.com/